AU: The Prince of Fire
by DragonMasterFlex
Summary: When Naruto goes 4 tails on the training trip with Jiraiya, instead of loosing control a transformation occurs and the prince of fire country is reborn. A Naruto modeled after Vegeta. NarutoXInoXSakura
1. Prologue: The Awakening

_Author's note: I really think the manga character of naruto sucks now. He's too freaking soft. So for this fic I decided to model him after Vegeta, and give him the abilities of Natsu from Fairy tale. Not a crossover just stealing the powers and the attitude._

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, DBZ, or Fairy Tale._  
_

**Summary:** The Yondaime left his son more than just the kyuubi. On his training trip with Jiraiya a new Naruto is awakened, one who will blaze his way into the history books.

**Prologue: Rebirth of the Prince**

_1 year into the training trip_**  
**

"Maybe this was a mistake..." uttered Jiraiya as he stared down the four tailed mini Kyuubi in from of him. They had tweaked the seal to allow Naruto more access to kyuubi chakra. Everything was manageable until the forth tail formed. Naruto lost control and the cloak was now hurting him more than it healed him.

"Common kid! You've got to take control of your body!" screamed Jiraiya.

Suddenly the fox began to grasp his head and roar. Naruto was now fighting back against the fox for control.

"That's it Naruto! Your body your power!"

_Inside the seal_

"Control..." uttered Naruto covered in the foxes chakra with the foxes claws hovering over him. Suddenly he looked up his eyes now blue instead of red glaring at the fox.**  
**

"This is my body! I'm in control! My body my power!" yelled Naruto. He puts his hands in the ram sign and began to summon his own chakra to combat the foxes. The kyuubi's claws were slowing pushed back as a blue pillar of chakra surrounded Naruto.

**"STUPID BOY! YOU THINK YOUR POWER CAN COMPARE TO MINE! MWAHAHAHAH!" **declared Kyuubi.**  
**

The fox then began to pump even more chakra out and began to overwhelm Naruto.

**"YOU'RE WEAK BRAT! AND NOW YOUR MINE!" **roared Kyuubi.**  
**

_'Shit! I need more power!'_ thought Naruto as he dug even deeper into his reserves. His chakra began grow and suddenly a tendril of his charkra struck the seal on the cage. The seal glowed for a moment before the fourth hokage appeared in front of the cage to witness the battle.

"It's time." declared the fourth as he lifted his hand up over the seal before it glowed momentarily before changing and suddenly Naruto began to absorb the demon chakra into his own. The colors of the chakra changed into a fire red as they blended. Naruto's body began to change as his whisker marks faded. His muscle mass increased while his hair became even spikier with red streaks flowing through it.

**"WHAT IS THIS! GIVE ME BACK MY CHAKRA!"** roared Kyuubi, who then looked and saw the fourth standing in front of the seal. **"YOU! YOU DID THIS! YOU RAT I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" **

"No this is all him. This is why I chose him. My son a fire dragon slayer, holding the great fire demon. He'll be unstoppable." stated the fourth.

**"NO! THIS CAN'T BE!" **exclaimed Kyuubi. He had now lost 4 tails worth of chakra to the boys reserves it would take him months to get back to full power.Even worse his attempts to control the boy would now meet with a lose power. He now needed to rethink his strategy.**  
**

"Haha! Do it Naruto! I'll see you again sometime my son." declared the fourth as he faded out of existence.

Naruto smirked as he heard the man. He then completely absorbed the forth tail of chakra before exploding from his mind scape in a ball of fire.

**The Outside world**

"What is this the kyuubi chakra it's transforming! What's happening in there! I haven't felt a chakra like this since Minato...could he be one too?" exclaimed a puzzled Jiraiya.

The kyuubi chakra suddenly appeared to become fire as it began to roar as the tails receded. Suddenly it exploded into a pillar of fire and the roars of the beast were replaced with the screams of Naruto. When the pillar receded it revealed the new Naruto that awakened in the seal with his body shrouded by smoke and flame.

"Incredible... a fire dragon slayer. His father's lightning dragon transformation wasn't this cool, but then again he didn't almost kill me in the process either." stated Jiraiya in awe.

"Hey you old pervert! I saw a very interesting man in the seal just now. You know my father, the Yondaime Hokage!" declared Naruto.

Jiraiya gulped before trying to explain, " Well you see you weren't supposed to know until.."

"I know that fool! I would have been a sitting duck being his son would have started the 4th ninja war. But finally I know the reason I was chosen. It is not a burden, but a gift of power passed from father to son! The sleeper has now awakened and the dragon slayer has been reborn! I am the Prince of all Fire Country once again!" yelled Naruto before cackling madly.

'I think we may have created a monster. His ability is now only exceeded by his ego.' thought Jiraiya with a sweat drop.

"Quit sitting around you old fool! This changes everything! I'm not skipping the next chunin exams. I'm going to enter solo and blow away the competition! Hurry up before I decide to burn all your research!" yelled Naruto.

Jiraiya was struck with a look of horror before he began cursing, "Damn you Minato! You've set back my research until I get rid of this brat!"


	2. An Explosive Return

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

**An Explosive Return  
**

_ -2 years later-_

As the two travelers walked towards the village, one of the two could only scowl. Naruto had come the realization that there were truly only a handful of worthwhile people in this village. The rest were either nothing but sheep or senile old fools who the world had passed by. He now truly understood why someone like Tsunade had become so disillusioned with the place at one time. The village higher ups were nothing but a cesspool. Jiraiya sensed the mood of his apprentice and decided to lighten it. No need to have the brat explode upon his return.

"Finally after years of oppressive tyranny your reign has come to an end brat! Soon I will be free to peep in all villages. The perversion long denied will be reawakened, I will be the supreme pervert of all the elemental countries once again!" declared Jiraiya while cackling madly.

Naruto only shook his head at the foolishness of the sage's words before an evil smirk crossed his features.

"You fool don't you realize where we are! All I have to do is tell the dingbat all times you shirked training to go perv and your finished. I merely burned your research, where as the old hag will pound you into oblivion before burning all your research and books in a village wide bonfire! Mwahaha!" declared Naruto.

"You may have that! But I have a record of all the destruction you caused that the village has been billed for! If I'm going down I'm taking you with me!" retorted Jiraiya.

"Yeah right. This village owes me, and I intend to collect!"

The two had finally reached the gates and simply passed right through.

"Was that who I think it was?" questioned Izumo from the guard station.

"Things should finally get interesting around here with that guy back." replied Kotetsu.

"With who back?"

The both turned to see Sakura collecting the reports for the Hokage.

"You'll see them when you deliver those back to the office. That should be their first stop." said Izumo.

_'Could you finally have returned Naruto?' _thought Sakura as she walked back to the tower._  
_

_--  
_

Tsunade had finally finished her current stack of paperwork and took the opportunity take a sake break before her assistants returned with more. She had just taken a sip when she heard a knock on the door.

'Dammit I just finished!' she thought before saying, "Come in."

She was surprised to see Jiraiya standing there with Naruto.

"I know the old man read his porn, but do you really have to drink on the job?" deadpanned Naruto.

Her eye began to twitch, "I almost forgot what today was, still the same brat I see."

"No, he evolved from a loud-mouthed brat into and arrogant ass." commented Jiraiya.

"Still better than being a drunk or a perv." remarked Naruto

"No respect I still you, three years and still no respect!" ranted Jiraiya.

"The stronger the ninja the crazier they are, anyone who doesn't have any personality quirks has no skill." stated Naruto.

"I guess that's high praise coming from someone like you." interrupted another voice as it entered the office. They turned to see Kakashi reading one of his books. Suddenly the book caught fire and turned to ash. A stunned Kakashi turned to see Naruto blowing out a flame on his finger with a smirk on his face.

"I would have come up with something for you, but your habits speak for themselves."

"Enough idle chatter. Now that you've returned you need to be evaluated." stated Tsunade.

"Surely you can't be questioning my skills? I passed those damn exams in mist. I've caused enough havoc over the past year to get in the bingo book!" contested an irritated Naruto.

"Calm down that's not what I meant. Your team needs to see your skills so that they can become accustomed to working with you again." said Tsunade.

"From your reports Jiraiya you said he inherited the bloodline even stronger than his father." said Kakashi.

"At his current training pace his level of control over fire will compare with that of the Nidaime's with water in a few years." replied Jiraiya.

"That's a bad comparison. He sounds more like a full manifestation like my grandfather. Minato and my uncle were only partial manifestations. I'll run a few medical test later to confirm. Now onto your evaluation, I'm going to have you fight..." she was interrupted again by another knock as Sakura entered the room.

"Shishou I've got the reports you asked for... Oh Sorry for interrupting." stated Sakura as she put the papers on the desk and surveyed the room.

"Never mind that, it's good your here now. I going to reinstate Team 7..."

"Wait, what about Naruto? I know we'd have to find at least one replacement but isn't two a little harsh. Plus we'll have to adjust... " rambled Sakura before being interrupted.

"You know for some so smart your pretty blind."

"Naruto?!!?!"

"No, the Yondaime TsuchiKage," Naruto deadpanned. Sakura blushed as everyone else snickered.

"Now about that evaluation, who am I going to fight..." started Naruto only to be interrupted again as Temari and Shikamaru entered.

"Hey guys looks who's back!" Sakura exclaimed directing their attention to Naruto.

"You just had to go and become even more troublesome Naruto. Good to have you back." remarked Shikamaru.

"Still as lazy ass ever, pineapple-head?" retorted Naruto.

Meanwhile Temari just stared at him stunned, _'This is that short kid? No way!'_

"I know right?! I didn't recognize him either!" whispered Sakura to Temari.

_'Looks like Naruto is developing a little fan club'_ observed Kakshi looking at Temari and Sakura.

At this point a messenger bird flew in through the window. As Tsunade read the scroll her eyes widened.

"Listen up!" she ordered gathering their attention, "The Akatsuki have been sighted near the outposts of Suna. It appears they're making their moves now to capture their targets. The Kazekage has requested an escort for Temari back to Suna that can also aid against the threat."

"I guess we can skip that useless evaluation. No way I missing out on this." eagerly replied Naruto.

"Brat you're an Akatsuki target! I can't just throw you in the line of fire!" responded Tsunade.

"That's exactly why I should be on this mission! You can't win by running and hiding! I will fight these Akaktsuki face to face and crush them with my bare hands!" exclaimed Naruto.

Tsunade looked to Jiraiya who only gave a nod in approval to Naruto's sentiments.

"Fine, Shikamaru gather rest of team Asuma, you and team Kakashi will accompany Temari back to Suna to help deal with the threat. Kakashi your command will consist of yourself and chunins Haruno Sakura and Namikaze Naruto. I'll find you a fourth squad member after you return. You will head this mission with Asuma being your second in command. Dismissed."

--

Shikamaru had gathered the rest of his squad with Naruto, Temari, and Sakura and they were all now at the gates waiting on Kakashi.

"I can't believe Kakashi-sensei still has such bad habits. He's making us look bad." asked Sakura.

"Speak for yourself. As long as he's Copy-Nin Kakashi on the battle field I could care less how late he is."

_'Naruto he's so mature now. Of course he wouldn't let this phase him.' _thought Sakura while checking him out._  
_

_'He grew up alright, grew up just fine!'_ observed a drooling Ino.

_'Could use more guys like him in my village'_ thought Temari.

_'Troublesome girls, troublesome Naruto' _thought Shikamaru as he moved away from the girls and began chatting with Asuma._  
_

_'I packed my BBQ chips, regular, ranch...Oh I should as Naruto if he found any exotic ramen on his travels later...salt and vinegar chips...'_ thought Choji as he followed Shikamaru.

"So, Naruto do I look more womanly now?" asked Sakura as she struck a pose.

"No one cares about you Forehead," said Ino shoving Sakura out of the way and striking her own pose, "My feminine charms are much more alluring!"

"Out of the way Piggy, stop drooling over him!"

"Forehead!!!"

_'This two idiots are gonna drive him away, right into my hands!'_ smirked Temari with a gleam in her eye.

_'Those two still with the banshee screams! Why can't they be quiet like the other one.' _thought Naruto as he moved away from them and towards Shikamaru, Choji and Asuma._  
_

"So, Naruto you looking to go for Jonin rank any-time soon? You've build up quite the reputation in the Bingo book." Asuma asked Naruto.

"I've got one elemental manipulation in my pocket. I'm working on another right now, I'll give a go once I have that down."

"What elements are you aligned with?" asked Shikamaru.

"Now that would be telling wouldn't it." remarked Naruto.

"Its too troublesome to keep up with a guy like you. The average chunin life suits me just fine."

Naruto then noticed a short brown haired blur suddenly entered his vision.

"Boss! I heard you were back! Check my technique on this ultimate jutsu!** Orioke no Jutsu!**" declared Konohamaru as he transformed into a sexy brunette before reverting back.

"What do ya think! Gotta lot umph to it right?" pleaded Konohamaru.

"HAHAHA, you amuse me kid. Remind me of myself before I became the greatness I am today. When I'm running this place I could use someone like you, you can wash my boots and call me Lord Namikaze!" claimed Naruto chuckling at his old idiocy.

"No way! I'm gonna be the Hokage and your gonna work for me!"

"You might wanna run back to your team now." deadpanned Naruto.

Konohamaru looked up to see the threatening forms of Ino and Sakura before he took off like Tora the cat.

"Gotta run! Later Boss." yelled Konohamarau as he got the hell outta there.

"Don't change kid." muttered Naruto.

Soon Kakashi arrived and the group departed for Suna.

_-On The Road to Suna-_

The group had stopped to take a rest a short ways outside Suna. They were scattered about the campsite chatting about the newest gossip of the day namely, Naruto. Naruto mostly hung off to the side with a scowl. He wanted to hurry up and get to Suna so he wouldn't miss the battle with the Akatsuki. The rest somehow ignored his annoyance and kept peppering him with questions about his training, which as far he was concerned was on a need to know basis.

"So, Naruto how did you get promoted at the exams in mist with no squad?" asked Shikamaru.

"The true worth of a warrior is not the value placed on him by his comrades, but that of his enemies." replied Naruto cryptically.

"Troublesome blonde. " said Shikamaru.

"What he meant was check the bingo book. Have a look at his page, it's right next to mine." suggested Kakashi as Naruto scowled.

This slightly shocked the rest of the group that Naruto would have a rating as high as Kakashi in the bingo book. Shikamaru and several of the others pulled out their books and quickly flipped to Kakashi's page.

"Kakashi-sensei when did you get upgraded to S-rank?" asked Sakura.

"When he used some new monkey-eye technique to blow off the arms of the Yondaime Mizukage." supplied Naruto shocking most of the group.

"Monkey-eye technique??" questioned Sakura.

"Read the damn page! He's got a Mangekyou Sharingan! I even helped him develop another technique." replied Naruto grumpily.

"Naruto, when the hell did you become A-rank!" screamed Ino.

_'That banshee shrill yours and the pink one is what's A-Rank!'_ thought Naruto as he grabbed his ears.

"When he blew up the rest of Yondaime Mizukage!" supplied Kakashi.

"You...two..killed a Kage!?" stated Choji in shock.

"Yeah I heard about that mission. Hokage-sama had a fit between the upgraded bounties and the revealing of Naruto's heritage." commented Asuma.

"Yeah, what exactly is up with the new name?" asked Ino.

"Well, since it will soon become common knowledge I'll let you know. Uzumaki is my mothers family name, and Namikaze is that of my father."

"But, I thought you we're an orphan?" questioned Sakura.

Naruto began to rub his temples feeling a migraine coming on, "You imbecile just because I'm an orphan doesn't mean I don't have any parents. I never talked about them before because I didn't know who the were. It turns out they were high ranked ninja's with tons of enemies. I'd have been dead if it was common knowledge."

Sakura and Ino looked down in shame before looking back at him in pity. This only pissed Naruto off.

"I'll have none of your pity! My parents were proud warriors Uzukami Kushina of Whirlpool and the Yondaime Hokage Minato Namikaze. I wouldn't have my heritage any other way."

The younger ninjas minus Shikamaru were stunned by this development, however for Shikamaru another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

"Troublesome, so that's why you chosen." he muttered aloud.

"Chosen for what?" inquired Ino.

"Chosen to be the keeper of the greatest tailed beast. When my father defeated the Kyuubi he did not kill the beast as you were told. No he sealed its chakra into me his son, not to just protect village, but because I had the greatest potential . Any child could have been chosen a lot were born near that day perhaps even one of you or our comrades of the same age could have been chosen. But he chose me because I had the potential to become the best, the greatest shinoibi who ever lived, and I would have been there already if not for meddling old fools..." ranted Naruto before trailing off at the end.

"So that's why Gaara respects you so much, you're just like him..." realized Temari. There was much silence after this comment as many contemplated the revealing of this information. For Naruto a younger version of him would have dreaded this revelation, but now he was proud to be who he was. After a few moments Shikamaru broke the ice again.

"Wait, if you two killed the Mizukage why are your bounties so high in Iwa?" he asked as he read further into the bingo book.

_'Konoha's Inferno... Master of Fire techniques and all forms of fire..What kind of training did you do..troublesome'_ thought Shikamaru as he read.

"Well, the current Mizukage..." started Kakashi.

"Shut-up Cyclops that has nothing to do with it! The true reason is that Mist ninja's revolted against the 4th and he went to Iwa because he was butt-buddies their current Kage. He gathered up support and was charging back to reclaim mist when he came across us on the Iwa border. To make a long story short we obliterated the old Mizukage and 2 Iwa Battalions. That and Kakashi still has his rep from the last great shinobi war and I'm the son of the yellow flash. There's a extra 20 million on our bounties simply for those two facts alone. " supplied Naruto.

"And we are now celebrated heroes in mist," proudly stated Kakashi before adding, " And Naruto is the Mizukage's personal...".

"Hatake, I'll burn all the Icha-Icha in Fire Country, and you know I'll do it!" threatened Naruto.

Kakashi hesitated before preparing to continue.

"Including the Gold HO-kage editions soon be released. They'll never see the light of day!" added Naruto.

Kakashi paled before wisely backing off. No need to risk new Icha Icha over embarrassing his student. He could wait...

"Why were you there in the first place?" asked Sakura.

"To steal a shipment of Mist and Iwa sake that happened to be passing by the border at the time. It was my official mission and Jiraiya-sama sent Naruto to help since they were in the area. It turned out to be a golden opportunity for me to check out Naruto's new skills. " replied Kakashi.

"So he was promoted on your recommendation from that mission and his mastery of fire. If he get's one more element he'd be appointed to elite jonin for sure." comment Shikamaru.

_'That is next step in my training, becoming a dual dragon slayer using a secondary chakra affinity. If that's even possible...'_ thought Naruto.

"Why were you on a mission stealing sake? Couldn't we have simply bought some from the company?" asked Choji.

"This was a special shipment, that is can only be manufactured during specific temperature conditions every four years. The Hokage had her own personal stash shipped immediately after it was bottled." supplied Kakashi.

"But two of her apprentices decided to have a bitch fight using their new super strength when they were supposed to be retrieving medical supplies. The fight spilled over into the Hokage personal storage and destroyed the entire shipment!" angrily yelled Naruto while leveling a glare at Ino and Sakura.

"S-orry?" uttered Sakura and Ino sheepishly.

"Wait a minute, even if that happened there's no way shishou would order a mission like that!" claimed Sakura.

"She didn't the clan heads did. They feared she was going to start killing off civilian council members after she sent one to the hospital during a session." replied Kakashi.

"Literally she punched him threw a wall and he landed on a hospital bed via an open window." added Naruto.

Suddenly all they all looked up into the distance sensing something.

"Time to move people, Akatsuki has struck." ordered Asuma.

_-Inside the Gates of Suna-  
_

After they reached the gates they made their way over to where Kankuro was observing a battle between Deidara and Gaara from below.

"The aerial opponent is Deidara, he makes bombs from some kinda clay like substance." supplied Kakashi to the group.

"That means his partner Sasori is snooping around here somewhere. I'll take captain play-doh, Asuma your squad and Kakurou should be able to handle puppet boy. Kakashi you should scout from below my fight looking for his bombs with the sharingan. If anything gets past Gaara and I, you and Temari should be able to take it out." called out Naruto.

"Sasori uses poison in his puppets so Sakura, you're with team Asuma as well. " ordered Kakashi in agreement with Naruto.

"Well I've got a flight to catch!" Naruto then bit his finger a wiped some blood over a circular seal on his left forearm and out popped a metallic circular disk. He flung it in the air as the bottom it became covered in fire and hovered in mid air. He jumped and zoomed towards the flying bird of clay that was circling Gaara. Diedara didn't notice his incoming second opponent as he unleashed a wave of clay bugs at Gaara. Before either ninja could react they were burnt to a crisp by a wave of fire courtesy of Naruto's right hand.

"Don't you have better things to do than play play-doh games with little girls Kazekage?" said Naruto with a smirk.

"Good to see you Namikaze Naruto," stoically responded Gaara.

"So you've been keeping up," chuckled Naruto, "I heard about your little pest problem and from my demonstration you can see I am fully qualified exterminator."

"I recognize you! You're the Kyuubi jinchurinkii, your a A-Rank big shot now killing a Kage! With two of you now I'll have show you my favorite art C2!" declared Deidara.

"Really, I can't back down from a challenge like that. Now you'll see just how deep my power really runs! Sit back and watch Gaara! My control of Fire now even surpasses yours of sand!" exclaimed Naruto.

As Deidara revealed his hands to gather some clay from his pouch Naruto finally got an up close look at the mouths on his hands.

"Wow, I guess you've really given a new meaning to the term hand-job! I get it finally! Between mouths here, his partner doll-boy, and the pretty boy of an Uchiha, the Akatsuki is nothing but a fairy club! I bet they couldn't hide it anymore in their home villages and got together to come out of the closet! No wonder Orochimaru became a member!" ranted Naruto. The ninja's watching below began to laugh and even the stoic Gaara began to snicker.

"You won't be laughing for long! Behold my greatest art, C2 Dragon!" yelled an irritated Deidara as he pulled his hands apart to reveal a small clay figure, which in a poof of smoke transformed into a gigantic winged dragon. He jumped off the bird and onto dragon as the clay beast swallowed the bird.

"You call it a dragon, I call it a rat with wings!" taunted Naruto.

"Now here comes my C4!" declared Deidara as his dragon began to breath out a huge cloud of what appeared to be sand, however, at the same Naruto release his own attack to counter.

**"Karyuu no Houkou!"**

The stream of fire turned all the particles in the cloud into ash.

_'The heat from that fire is intense no single particle of clay could have survived!'_ observed Gaara.

"It doesn't matter how small you make your bombs I can sense the chakra. My fire element is so powerfull it will reduce your doton element to nothing but ash." gloated Naruto. only to be overtaken from behind by swarm of clay bugs.

"You talk to much," stated Deidara before smirking, "Katsu!"

The bombs exploded all over Naruto creating a huge amount of smoke, Deidara smirk soon turned into a frown as the smoke faded to reveal Naruto with flames and smoke shrouding his body. He moved his hand up to wipe away a small amount of blood that had trickled out of his mouth.

"Just as I thought, you're nothing! That didn't even singe my clothes!" Naruto smugly stated.

_'I can't waste anymore chakra on C4 against this guy. I'm air borne so the land mine technique won't work here, let's see how he likes this.'_ thought Deidara as the dragon proceeded to spit out four baby dragons that sped after Naruto.

Naruto sped off as the four dragons gave chase attempting to flank him. After giving chase for several seconds they surrounded him and charged in with their target in the center of them. At the last second Naruto free fell from his disk then brought his wrists together in front of him and launched a devastating attack.

**"Karyuu no Supairaru no Taihō****!"**

A large spiraling blast of fire struck all four dragons just before they could detonate reducing them to ash. Naruto moved to bring his disk back underneath him but as he turned he was swallowed whole by another baby dragon.

"You've been immersed within my art Jinchurriki! Behold the beauty of Art as a Bang! Katsu!" proclaimed Deidara.

The baby dragon exploded into a giant ball of fire.

"Looking for me?"

Deidara turned to see Naruto once again hovering on his disk near Gaara.

"That was nothing but a Kage Bushin, I replaced myself with after firing my last attack."_  
_

_'This is almost as bad as fighting another member, I can't get a clear shot on him. Well time to change my strategy!'_ thought Deidara as he moved into action.

The dragon spit another bird before suddenly taking a nose dive towards the village as Deidara jumped onto the bird. Gaara anticipating this type of move the entire fight, leveled a giant barrier of sand shielding the village from the blast. He turned back only to be surprised a Naruto clothes-lined him off his floating sand. Seconds later the sand he was standing on exploded. Naruto turned back around and then allowed Gaara to gather some more sand to support himself in the air.

"You're pathetic tricks won't cut it here! You must have eaten too much play-doh and paste over the years, your brain is like that of retarded child!" taunted Naruto.

"Well if I can't win, I'll go out with a bang! My greatest self expression art!" declared Deidara as his entire body began to expand before exploding into a giant ball of fire. Gaara brought up his sand to shield himself, but only watched stunned as Naruto braced himself to shake off the force of the explosion before proceeding to inhale the entire ball of fire in one breath before belching.

"Too much ash in that one," commented Naruto before looking down and spotting the real Deidara attempting an escape on foot. He zoomed down and hovered behind him.

"Leaving so soon! Don't worry I've got a little going away present for you! AHAHAHA!" proclaimed Naruto while lifting his hand towards Deidara. Deidara could only look back in fear as he was out of chakra from combining C2 with C4 earlier.

**"Karyuu no Biggu Ban!"**

The giant fireball soon overtook the fleeing Deidara before consuming him in explosion.

"That was a good warm up now let's see if the others left anything for me." stated Naruto before zooming off the other side of the village where he had sensed the battle earlier.

* * *

Attacks/Jutsu 

**Karyuu no Biggu Ban** - Fire Dragon's Big Bang: Explosion ball of fire released from one hand, detonates on contact with target

**Karyuu no Supairaru no Taihō - **Fire Dragon's Spiral Cannon: Spiraling blast of fire released from the hands that can pierce barriers

**Karyuu no Houkou - **Fire Dragon's Roar: Fire blast released from the mouth, can also be released as a fireball or blast


	3. Dethroning the Pupper King

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

_A/N: This is the cleaned up version. I previously uploaded the rough draft by mistake._

* * *

**Dethroning the Puppet King**

Team Asuma, Sakura and Kankuro tracked down Sasori to a small canyon on the outskirts of the village. The entrance was littered with about two dozen dead sand shinobi, Chunin and Jonin. After some idle chatter with the Suna legend the group jumped into battle. Engaging in battle with the puppet master had the entire group channeling Shikamaru's attitude. Sasori was too damn troublesome. They destroyed his initial body only to reveal that it was merely a puppet shell. After revealing that he had turned himself into a human puppet Sasori then unleashed his human puppet of the third Kazekage. Things were looking bad especially when Kankurou was poisoned and Sakura and Ino were forced to retreat with him to find an antidote. They were saved by the timely intervention of elder Chiyo who rushed to the battle scene after discovering the situation with Kankuro at the hospital. With her aid they were able to give Chouji an opening to crush the Kazekage puppet. That was when Sasori's true horror was unleashed in the Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets. Now they were simply fighting a war of attrition. Eventually they would get tired and run out of chakra, or Sasori would run out of puppets. This was the scene that Naruto and Kakashi stumbled upon. Sasori on the backside of the canyon, his puppet army in the middle, and their allies barely putting a dent into his forces on the front side.

"Perhaps you guy's should take a load off. It looks likes the dolls are a bit much for you." stated Naruto as he and Kakashi arrived on the scene.

"I'd never thought I'd be so glad to see the most troublesome person I know." replied Shikamaru.

"What makes you think you guys could do any better?" grunted Asuma while dodging a poisonous strike before destroying a puppet with his trench knives.

"Yes, even if you some how managed to defeat Deidara, it must have cost you a lot of chakra. Soon you will all fall to my art." interrupted Sasori.

"That weakling wasn't even worth the sand I got in my boots. Hatake did nothing but watch as I erased him from existence. Take a good look at me! His so-called explosives couldn't even singe my clothes!" proclaimed Naruto.

_'That's because your clothes are resistant to your own fire techniques. What are you up to, defeating Deidara took a good portion of chakra even for someone like you...'_ puzzled Kakashi.

"Look our best chance is to work together to come up with a plan to defeat him," urged Shikamaru.

"No way will I work with the White Fang on Konoha!" yelled Chiyo.

"Someone tell the Alzheimer's patient that the White Fang has been dead for years, that's his son. His son of an _allied_ village." deadpans Naruto causing everyone including Chiyo to snicker.

"I'll have you know I took my pills this morning," she chuckled before continuing, "But the pineapple is right, we'll all have to join forces to defeat my grandson."

"You fools will only get in the way. I'm the best person for the job. My army puts his to shame." proclaimed Naruto.

_'So that's your plan, it could work...'_ thought Kakashi.

"What army?" exclaimed Chouji.

_'This is good...'_ thought Shikamaru as he caught on.

"You're entire army is nothing in front of me. Behold **Karyū no Tajuu Katon Bushin no Jutsu!**" yelled Naruto as a giant poof of smoke covered the canyon. When it dissipated the battlefield was covered with Naruto clones all shrouded in auras of fire.

"It's time for the curtain call on your puppet show!" declared Naruto as he and the clones jumped into action.

**"****Karyū**** no Tekken!" **Half of the clones struck down puppets with fire engulfed fists.**  
**

**"****Karyū**** no Kakitsume!" **The other half followed up with powerful flame boosted kicks. The initial attacks did massive damage and destroyed a significant chunk of the puppets. Sasori struggled to keep up as the clones began to destroy puppets faster than he could destroy the clones. Even when clones were destroyed the erupted into a ball of fire taking the puppet with them.

_'How can this be? To make this many clones is one thing but how could he have enough chakra to give them that much attack power! He also mixed himself within the clones somewhere, I can't detect which is the original!_ _I must retreat! Our intelligence on his skills was vastly understated.'_ thought Sasori as he moved to cover his escape only to find himself frozen in place.

"What is this! The Nara but he's over there!" said Sasori only to look in shock as the Shikamaru and Kakashi standing across the clearing went up in puffs of smoke to reveal two Naruto clones. He was forced to turn around and face Shikamaru who had him in a shadow possession hold and Kakashi powering up a Raikiri.

"To think I would be defeated like this. The Akatsuki the promise the world, but have lead me to nothing but ruin. In honor of my defeat I have a reward for you." The puppet master sighed as the seal on his neck glowed. Seals spread over Sasori's body, then collected in the side of his chest before pushing out a small scroll. "This is the information from my intelligence network, the next meeting scheduled in there should be of great interest to you Konoha shinobi."

"Farewell, Sasori of the Red Sands." stated Kakashi before he plunged through his chakra core with the Raikiri. Sasori and his remaining puppets all collapsed in a dead heap. Kakashi then collected the intelligence scroll and put it away in his pocket. The duo surveyed the remains of the battlefield as Naruto had just dispersed his clones. About one quarter of Sasori's puppet army remained.

"Oi! Give me a food pill!" yelled a panting Naruto.

"Ugh Right." stammered Chouji as he reached into his pouch and tossed one to Naruto. Naruto ate the pill and his conditioned seemed to improve as his energy was restored.

"That fight did take a lot out of him. His stamina is tapped from putting out so much effort against both members." stated Kakashi.

"What a troublesome guy, he bluffed Sasori. He couldn't have held up those clones for much longer." added Shikamaru._  
_

"You alright man? I thought you said that other fight was no sweat." questioned Asuma.

"It wasn't. Go worry about your own team I'm fine." gruffly replied Naruto forcing Asuma to back off. Just as he said this Sakura and Ino returned to the sight of their victory.

"We have an antidote is anyone poisoned?" inquired Ino.

"No just some exhaustion." replied Kakashi.

"Let's get out of here, Suna can deal with the cleanup." stated Asuma.

--

Later that evening the group had gathered for dinner at the Kazekage's mansion minus two important people, Naruto and the Kazekage. Food was catered in from a popular restaurant in town and they were all seated around a large table staring at the two empty spaces.

"Where the hell are those two?" grumbled Temari.

"Who cares they'll turn up sooner or later. Let's eat!" exclaimed Chouji.

Temari sighed. "Go ahead." she said prompting him to pile his plate with food.

"Baka, go through the trouble to get him some ramen and he doesn't show up." complained Sakura.

"Troublesome how do you know he even likes ramen that much anymore?" questioned Shikamaru.

"He may have changed, but there is no way he changed that much." replied Ino.

"Yeah instead of bouncing around like a child he'll grumble like an old man about there only being one decent choice of food here." said a chuckling Kakashi.

"Yeah, I've heard people maturing, but he went from a five year-old kid to a fifty year-old man in 3 years." added Asuma.

"I think he's always been angry under the surface, he just hid it well. Now he feels he doesn't need hold himself back anymore. What a troublesome guy." said Shimakaru.

"I know where they are, I bet they're settling that old score from three years ago. They're duking it out right now!" proclaimed Kankuro.

"THAT BAKA!" roared Ino and Sakura causing everyone to cover their ears.

"Calm down, I'm sure they have more sense than that. I'll go check on them." said Kakashi as he pulled out his book and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Damn that guy eats fast." said Chouji staring at Kakashi's empty plate.

--

Kakashi found Gaara sitting on the eastern village walls staring out into the desert. A short ways out he could make out the figure of Naruto standing in the midst of a mild sandstorm looking straight up into the sky.

"How long has he been standing out there?" asked Kakashi.

"About an hour." replied Gaara.

"You figured he would have lost the fight, instead of won." stated Kakashi.

"He said for normal ninja escaping by the skin of your teeth is a win, but to be the best you can't show any weakness even in victory or your next opponent will use it against you." declared Gaara.

"A wise policy." said Kakashi as he nodded in agreement.

"I agree, that is why I will have to step up my own training. I've become to overly reliant on my sand, if it were not for your timely arrival I may have been defeated." replied Gaara.

_'Still motivating and changing those around you, eh Naruto?' _thought Kakashi.

Out in the desert Naruto was battling his own thoughts.

_'Those who wielded even a fraction of the power of the Dragon Slayer are the greatest of legends. Ninjas without equal!'_ he thought to himself he he stared up into the eye of the storm.

"I have inherited this power, as my birthright the ability to become a warrior without equal!" he yelled aloud, "Yet I could barely beat the weakest of the Akatsuki and that was even with help! How can this be! Am I nothing more than a cheap imitation!"

"HUU-AHHH" he roared as he channeled his fire chakra around him in a fit of rage.

"All my life I have striven to be the best! To surpass even the greatest Hokage's! I have come this far only to be snuffed out by a bunch of S-rank misfits! A true Dragon Slayer would have beaten those two clowns with ease. Perhaps I have become complacent since I awakened my abilities, I may have great power, but I still lack experience. Perhaps there are more battles to be fought before I can achieve my true potential."

Naruto looked down before lifting his head up to the sky.

"HUU-AAAAAAAHHHH! AAAAHHHH! AAAAAHHHH!" roared Naruto as a pillar of fire erupted around him piercing upwards through the sandstorm into the sky. The swirling sands merging with the pillar heating up forming a pillar a glass that soon shatter under the intensity of Naruto's power. As the glass shattered and scattered throughout the desert the sandstorm finally died down.

"I will soldier on and learn from each and every battle. I will master my abilities and become the greatest legend of them all! Everyone one them will be a footnote in history compared to me!" he declared. The sound of clapping from behind him got his attention. He turned to see a clapping Kakashi eye-smiling at him and Gaara smirking with his arms crossed over his chest.

"A very inspirational speech." stated Kakashi.

"Indeed perhaps I should hire you to speak to my ninjas to get them motivated. We might conquer all the great nations." added Gaara.

Naruto ignored the subtle insults and responded rudely, "What do you want?"

"Dinner is being served for everyone back at my estate." replied Gaara.

"They started without us, but made sure to get some ramen reserved for you." added Kakashi.

"They better have, probably the only decent food they got to eat." he grumbled as he followed them back into the Village.

--

After a few days the squads completed the return trip to Konoha. As soon as they arrived they proceeded to the Hokage's office to give the debriefing on the mission. They encountered Jiraiya on the way who decided to sit in on the debriefing to see what other intel they had gathered on the Akatsuki. Kakashi had immediately turned over Sasori's scroll to the spy master. As soon as they reached the office Jiraiya kept an ear open to their report while he attempted to decipher the secrets of the scroll.

"Very curious as to why he would want to help us out?" questioned Tsunade. Her thoughts were interrupted by Jiraiya.

"I've cracked the first part of this thing. It's a list of meeting places and date and times for his spies. Apparently Sasori has a spy in Orohimaru's ranks and they are supposed to meet five days from now on the Heaven and Earth bridge. Orochimaru used to be his old partner with the Akatsuki, I guess he still held a grudge against him. "

"Well, then we should definitely send a team there, but who?" pondered Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama I request that my squad be apart of the team. This may provide an opportunity to track down a lost comrade who we know how to deal with the best." requested Kakashi.

_'I figured she'd be the first one to say it, but I guess he anticipated that.' _thought Tsunade. "Very, well I will put you into consideration."_  
_

"Well, Hatake I didn't know you had it in you." Naruto chimed in.

"What do you mean, of course sensei wanted to bring him back too!" retorted Sakura.

"Notice, he did not say "retrieve" but track down. If he will not return willingly, well I'll leave the rest to you to figure out. The crime he committed against him is far worse than against us. He took everything he was taught by our Sensei discarded it like trash. There isn't a bigger insult I can think of, but know this sensei I get the first shot at him, he owes me after all." stated Naruto.

"Is that true sensei?" questioned Sakura.

Jiraiya answered in his place, "Whether you like it or not Orochimaru cannot be allowed to take his body. We must do everything we can to prevent that. If Sasuke would willingly allow it to happen, he is a much easier target to take out than Orochimaru himself. This however is only a worst case scenario."

"Worst case scenario my ass." uttered Naruto.

"I thought you of all people wanted to bring him back?" Tsunade was somewhat puzzled by his attitude.

"Don't sugar coat it with useless emotions. He's either with us or against us. If he proves to still be against us he has to die." stated Naruto. While his words rang true to most in the room, a few were troubled by them. Tsunade soon dismissed them all stating she would notify them of the mission's team members in a few days.

--

A couple days later Naruto and Shikamaru were walking through town discussing the situation of the mission. Shikamaru noticed he friends new found apathy for his former teammate and was questioning his new views on the retrieval of Sasuke.

"He's made his decisions and he has to live with them. He's become a footnote, I'm after the big snake if you will. The uchiha is a known quantity, his goals can be predicted as long as Itachi is alive, he's not a threat to anyone else. The snake..."

"...he's a different animal, if he manages to get his hands on that sharingan who knows what could happen. Damn troublesome Uchiha's."

"Don't get me wrong, if I ever came face to face with the guy, I'd beat the crap out of him on principle. But I no longer care about him or his goals."

"Hello Shikamaru and Naruto." called out a voice. They looked to the side to see Shino standing in front of a tree.

"Why the hell are you dressed like a drug dealer?" asked Naruto.

"Why does my state of dress invoke that image in your mind? Are you looking for a fix?" questioned Shino.

"Touche." replied Naruto.

"Shino you're early!" roared Kiba as he and Akamaru came skidding around the corner.

"Well, well, well, looks like the master finally outgrew it's mutt. Congratulations Akamaru." stated a smirking Naruto. Akamaru barked cheerfully in response.

"Hey! Akamaru you traitor! I come with the nice greeting for an old comrade and this is the thanks I get." retorted Kiba.

"Gah!" The all turned to see the seemingly frozen form of Hinata standing with her finger pointed out towards them. Kiba walked up to her and waved his hand in front of her face getting no response.

"Well this is new. She's completely frozen up." said Kiba.

"I didn't think it was possible, but she got even weirder. Your whole team in weird. Except for that sensei of yours, now that is a woman I'd like to.."

"You'd like to what?" questioned a voice from behind them. They turned to see Kurenai standing there smirking.

"Have on my team instead of that pink harpy. You know what I mean right Shikamaru?" replied Naruto with a smirk of his own.

"Definitely. Blond is just as bad as pink. Way too loud. I think I'll be deaf in a few years." added Shikamaru.

"Sensei when did you get here?" asked Kiba.

"Never mind that, look!" she said pointing behind them.

They all turned to see Naruto standing about a block in front them facing down some beast like creatures that appeared to be made of ink. As they approached him Naruto engulfed his arms in fire and punched each beast in the face reducing them to ash.

"It's that guy up there! He's got a leaf headband, what the hell is he doing!" yelled Kiba pointing up to the roof of a building up ahead. It was a teenage boy sitting with a paint brush in hand and scroll on his lap.

"Quiet! Watch!" exclaimed Kurenai. Suddenly the boy made a hand sign and a herd of ink beasts sprung from his scroll headed straight for Naruto. He made no move to dodge as the beasts all swarmed him at once.

"Move it!" yelled Kiba only to be stunned as Naruto exploded into a ball of fire incinerating the beasts.

"Whoa..." muttered Shino._ 'His control over fire is better than advertised. The flame only destroyed the beasts not any of the surrounding area.' _

The boy on the roof looked down at the street puzzled.

"At first I was going to ask you if you were insane, but after getting a good look at you it's obvious." The boy turned around to see Naruto staring him down with his arms folded across his chest.

"You're pretty strong, you must actually have something between your legs." he was suddenly surprised by a fist planting itself in his gut knocking him out.

"A weakling and he's gay. If I didn't know any better I'd say you were an Uchiha." Naruto threw the boy over his shoulder, before reappearing back in front of Shikamaru.

"What do you think? Is he one of them?" he asked the Nara.

"Troublesome, but yeah looks like it." Shikamaru replied.

"One of who?" asked Kiba.

"Not your problem dog-breath. I need to take this mutt back to its master for better house training. I'll recommende you Akamaru, you've done wonders with Kiba. Got him bathing at least once a week now?" he said before turning and jumping away.

"Hey! I bathe at least 3 times a week so ha!" yelled Kiba at his retreating form. Everyone quickly backed several feet away from him.

--

Tsunade had been sitting in a meeting with Koharu and Homura, the elders failing to convince her to limit Naruto's movements. Shizune had approached them to get them to convince Tsunade to limit Naruto movements, by essentially confining him to the village. She rejected that idea flat, by stating that Naruto could take care of himself, and confining him to the village made him a siting target like Gaara was when he was attacked.

"We will concede that fact to you however, we request more members to be added to his team." stated Homura.

Tsunade sighed in annoyance,"Alright then."

"Come in, Danzo." said Koharu as the door opened and closed with an old crippled man shuffling into the room.

"You..." said Tsunade as her eyes widened in recognition.

"It has been a long time Tsunade-hime." greeted Danzo.

"If you're here that means the new member will be one of the root anbu." she surmised.

"Yes, and also a elite member of the Hokage's ANBU should suffice for the other member." added Homura.

Suddenly the door slammed open and Naruto barged in with the boy from earlier hanging over his shoulder.

"I believe this belongs to you. I think this dog needs remedial house training." said Naruto throwing the boy at Danzo's feet.

"Naruto, what are you doing here! This is a meeting of..." Shizune started reprimanding him only to be cut off.

"I know exactly what this is! A bunch of old meddlesome fools who know nothing about me gathered to plot how I should live my life. The same people who've been doing a shitty job of it since I was born. Where was all the concern for my well being when I actually needed it? And Shizune don't take that tone with me. You should be the one being lectured for trying to undermine your own leader!" he ranted.

"Boy you have no right..." started Homura

"Be quiet fool! What right do you have to decide what is for the betterment of the village! The ninja world isn't the same as it was 50 years ago!" proclaimed Naruto.

"You must understand we're only trying to protect you and the village." pleaded Koharu.

"The best way to protect myself and the village is to allow me to crush the Akatsuki members with my bare hands!" roared Naruto.

"You couldn't possibly..." began Danzo.

"SILENCE!" yelled Tsunade shutting them all up, "We've already agreed upon a course of action. This discussion is now closed. For future reference you three would do well to keep up to date on Naruto's abilities. On his last mission he was primarily responsible for the elimination of both Akatsuki members. His abilities returning from his training trip are far beyond even what I had hoped for. He is quickly becoming a one of the elite members of my forces. Your attempts to restrict him are quickly becoming a nuisance to the village."

"Just remember who holds the power, she is the Hokage and I am one of her greatest ninja. You're nothing but a bunch of old fools who can be easily shuffled into retirement for new blood with new ideas." he said offhandedly while exiting the room.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading, now review or burn! MWAHAHAHA!**_


	4. The New Team Kakashi

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

**

* * *

The New Team Kakashi  
**

At Tsunade's orders a new Team Kakashi formed consisting of the remaining three members, Yamato one of the Hokage's prized ANBU, and Sai a member of ANBU Ne. The members of the new squad met at their new designated training area to discuss the upcoming mission.

"Hiya!" waved Sai with a fake smile as he approached the rest of the group.

"You again? Why the hell do we need this fruitcake? He's the weakest guy here!" ranted a scowling Naruto.

"Don't worry Blond Horse, we ninjas of Root are fully trained ANBU." replied Sai still with the same fake smile.

"Blond Horse?" questioned Sakura.

"This guy is really strong there for he must be hung like a horse. A ugly brute like you must be strong so you know how it is." There was a brief pause before Sai was slammed in the ground courtesy of Sakura's fist.

"How dare you say such things you perverted baka!" she ranted while not taking her eyes off Naruto's crotch.

"Well, I do know one woman who can confirm, but we'd have to take a detour to mist..." pondered Kakashi as he looked away from his book.

Naruto snorted in disgust at them, "Fools..."

After Sai gathered himself from Sakura's blow, Yamato cleared his throat gathering everyone's attention to him, "Since Team Kakashi was missing a member and due the importance of this mission, Hokage-sama added two extra members to Team Kakashi, so why don't we all introduce ourselves."

"My name is Sai!"

"I'm Haruno Sakura."

"Hatake Kakashi."

"I am Captain Yamato."

"Page 147 in the Bingo Book."

"Mah, Naruto common play nice." said Kakashi.

"I'm not paid to play nice, I'm paid to do missions." retorted Naruto.

"Anyway, the five of us are on a mission now, we aren't all exactly used to working with each other, but I believe we have the ability to accomplish our goal." declared Yamato attempting to build some camaraderie within the group.

"Wait a second, whose the lead on this mission you or Kakashi?" asked Naruto.

"Technically it's me, but I'm deferring to Yamato right now. He could use the experience of dealing with non ANBU personnel." replied Kakashi.

"Basically you're being lazy as usual." grumbled Sakura. Yamato ingored her as he continued.

"Our mission is to head to the Tenchi Bridge to intercept the spy within Orochimaru's organization and bring him back. This is an excellent opportunity to find information on Orochimaru and Uchiha Sasuke. We could gain a source that leads to the formulation of a plan to assassinate Orochimaru and bring back Uchiha Sasuke." stated Yamato.

Naruto snorted, "There are way too many flaws in that plan. We have to capture the source, that's one thing that can fail easily. It's much easier to kill that to capture. The source has to be able to cooperate, with Akatsuki and Orochimaru there could some fail safe in place that prevents the spy from talking to us. There is also the possibility that Orochimaru already sniffed out the spy and is setting up and ambush for Sasori. This could also be a trap laid by the Akatsuki."

"Excellent job of reading underneath the underneath. That is why we have four high caliber fighters and a medic on this mission. There is a great possibility that we will encounter Orcohimaru himself in his attempt to eliminate Sasori. I already have and idea for a fail safe, if you will, if the spy lead turns out to be a dead end." said Kakashi.

This peaked Naruto's interest, "Care to enlighten us?"

"Later when we are out of the village." responded Kakashi.

"Very well then, these are our orders. Gather your supplies, we will depart from the front gate in one hour." commanded Yamato.

--

Sakura and Naruto gathered their supplies quickly and were now walking through the village to the Hokage tower to report to Tsunade before departing on the mission.

"So, what do you think about this Sai character?" asked Sakura.

"He's useless. We only really needed Yamato, but those council bastards wanted their own guy on the team using the excuse of trying to keep an eye on me. Meddling old fools..."

"I know that from what Shishou told me, how did you find out?"

"The idiot tried to start a fight with me in the middle of the village. I knocked him out and stormed their meeting before throwing him down at their feet just to prove a point."

"What point?"

"Whatever protection and supervision they want to provide is nothing but dead weight."

"Still, you shouldn't have stormed the meeting like that. Those people have a lot of political power and can make Shishou's job a lot harder and your career miserable."

"They lack real political power. They're all so old that they could easily be pushed into retirement in favor of fresh ninjas with new ideas. The village hasn't exactly been steadily improving under their watch the past decade or so. I wouldn't be surprised if she already started to put their replacements in place."

"You sure did learn a lot on your trip, you didn't used to be aware of such things."

"If these people didn't meddle in my affairs, I wouldn't care about politics. Since they choose to do so they should learn not to get in my way. Plus if I maintain the image of loose canon under Tsunade's control if gives them more of a reason to fear her when they attempt their shady backdoor deals."

"We're here." she stated as they had reached the tower.

--

Tsunade, Naruto, and Sakura discussed the situation of Sai being involved on their mission. Naruto and Sakura just finished debriefing her on their interactions with Sai so far. The root ninja's actions did not surprise her.

"...so that's how it is. I want you two to keep an eye on him. I believe that the council may have ulterior motives on this mission." she stated. Their conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Enter!" commanded Tsunade. The door opened and Danzo shuffled into the room.

_'Not this fool again...'_ thought Naruto as he rolled his eyes.

"Danzo, what is it?" questioned an annoyed Tsunade.

"I trust you have assigned an elite ANBU to be the leader of Sai's team?" he asked.

"I choose the person who has stood out the most since Sandaime was in office." she replied.

"Excellent, I would hope that he hasn't taken Sandaime's teachings to heart. That old man was too soft, afraid of getting into disputes and making decisions. Like how your own grandfather taught Sandaime." he said casually.

"Hmph.." Tsunade's eyebrows twitched at the insults, but did not respond so Naruto did her talking for her.

"It would do you well not to speak ill of the dead, lest you become one of them. You are up there in years after all. Besides Sandaime was a great man respected and feared by many, I could not say the same for you _old man_."

Danzo's own eyebrow twitched at the response, but he held himself back from responding, "Well that was all I came to confirm. Thank you for your time, I guess I can go eat now. Good-bye."

"_Old man_," said Naruto causing Danzou to pause and grip his cane tightly, "Since you view ninja's as tools don't be too disappointed if your _tool_ becomes _discarded_ on this mission if it proves to be _faulty_."

"Thank you for your concern." grumbled Danzou as he exited the room.

"Naruto why did you say those things! Shishou could handle it!" scolded Sakura.

"I was defending my Hokage. As the superior officer it may not be proper for her to respond to such comments, but I am not bound but such pettiness. Like I told you before, sometimes the leader needs a loose canon to let everyone know you shouldn't mess with them. It also helps that I'm essentially untouchable for him."

"The old you may have been a breath of fresh air from all the crap of this job, but the new you is much more useful. I should have you sit in on all my council meetings. I think those old prunes fear sitting in a room with you more than Ibiki now after your little show yesterday." stated a chuckling Tsunade. Naruto smirked in response.

--

After gathering at the Main gate Team Kakashi departed for the Tenchi bridge. After a few hours of travel the group descended into an awkward silence. Naruto marched along with a scowl on his face, eyes never straying from dead ahead. Kakashi partook in his favorite activity of reading Icha Icha. Yamato walked ahead as point staying alert of his surroundings at all times. Sakura's mind raced through various thoughts, causing her to send supspicious glances at Sai and inquiring glances at her blond teammate. Sai still possessed the same fake smile on his face as he traveled appearing to oblivious to everything.

Kakashi decided to break the troubling silence,"What's up with the awkward silence, you guys should have some light chatter getting acquainted with one another."

"I don't really have anything to say to this guy and tools don't speak anyway." responded Naruto as nodded towards Sai..

"Hey don't say something like that in front of your Captains Naruto. As a student of Kakashi, you should already know the importance of teamwork and cooperation." replied Yamato.

"There can only be teamwork if everyone is working for the same goal. This fool is nothing more than the servant boy of a crazy old man," his voice suddenly shifted to an imitation of Sai's and plastered a fake smile on his face, "It's time to eat Danzo-sama. Let me escort you to the restroom Danzo-sama. Yes, I will wipe for you Danzo-sama. May I have some more Danzo-sama?" By now Sakura was barely holding back her giggling, Kakashi raised his book closer to his face to muffle his own laughter, and Yamato's face was twitching trying to hold back a grin.

"It would do you well not to speak ill of Danzou-sama." responed Sai his fake smile finally gone.

"What do you know! The tool finally showed a real emotion! It's a real boy!" replied Naruto over dramatically.

Yamato tried to scold Naruto for ridiculing his teammate, "That's enough! Someone like you in a team with the great Kakashi-san, what is with you!"

"The great Kakashi? Perhaps you two now each other more intimately than we thought, not that there's anything wrong with that. Sasuke is our former teammate you know." casually replied Naruto. Yamato's mouth opened and closed, but no words came out so he turned to Kakashi. Kakashi sighed as he put his book down. Sometimes he wished Naruto would save his banter for their enemies only. He was about to try and diffuse the situation when Sai suddenly spoke up.

"I get it now, you see me as trying to replace that weak shit for brains Orochimaru clone who ran off betraying Konoha. No worries I despise people like him." he said returning to his fake smile. Naruto snorted before chuckling and a smirk crossed his face.

"You know what this guy is alright with me even if he is a tool. 'Weak shit for brains Orochimaru clone' Hah! That's classic!" he cold hardly contain his amusement.

"Well, I'm glad that's settled. Hopefully we can all get along from now on." said Sakura.

"Yes, let us all get along!" stated Sai. Suddenly he was tackled by Naruto forcing him out of the way of a punch thrown by Sakura. They looked back to see the huge crater that had formed in the ground.

"What the hell you crazy woman?! Are you trying to cripple the freakin mission!" Naruto yelled at her.

"I do not know why you knocked him out of the way. You're letting him get away with talking bad about Sasuke-kun. He has know idea what he's talking about. Next time I won't hold back." she threatened.

Naruto laughed, "Who cares? The fact that the emo isn't here to defend himself is of his own doing. You act like he's some saint or something."

"Who cares?! I thought you two were best friends!" replied Sakura angrily. She couldn't understand his attitude towards Sasuke.

"Have you ever stabbed your arm through Ino's chest? No? Well then, I think that takes care of that theory." he retorted sourly.

"**Shichuu-Tou no Justu**!" A wooden prison erupted from the ground trapping the three young ninja inside with Kakashi looking on impassively.

"If you won't stop arguing I'll lock you all in this cage. We have five days before we need to be at the Tenchi bridge. As the mediator in this situation you can sit in the cage here to work out your differences or we can go to a hotel with Hot springs," Yamato's voice suddenly shifted into a darker tone, "_You guys do not know me very well, I can be nice and friendly, but I can rule by fear as well..._"

Naruto abruptly blasted open the front of the cage and reducing it to ash.

_'If you were sent to keep me under control, they made a bad choice. Fire Dragon Slayer versus a Mokuton user? You have no chance.' _Naruto thought to himself._  
_

_'I didn't see any hand seals or even sense a spike in chakra! How good are you?' _thought Yamato_  
_

"Hot springs are useless to me, but the rest of you can do as you please." Naruto said walking forward next to Kakashi without looking back.

_'What does he mean by that?'_ thought a confused Sakura.

--

"Ah, nothing like being naked together builds companionship among guys!" declared Yamato as he relaxed into the hot springs.

"Maybe, it's a good thing Naruto isn't here. Your sexuality would definitely be coming into question again." deadpanned Kakashi as he turned the page of his book.

"Why did you let him go off on his own anyway?" asked Yamato.

"His body naturally produces Fire Chakra, he can make his own hot spring whenever he bathes. He also spotted a casino in town, I fronted him the cash in return for half his profits. The guy has made a fortune of gambling ever since he left with Jiraiya." replied Kakashi.

"His temper and that kind of penchant for gambling, you'd think he trained under Hokage-sama and not Jiraiya-sama." stated Yamato.

"I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't join us." commented Sai joining the conversation.

"Why's that?" asked Kakashi.

"I wanted to see a really big penis." replied Sai.

Silence permeated the air as all the men in the hot springs instantly closed their legs and moved away from Sai, while the women's side of the hot springs erupted into giggles.

_'Must not kill him...'_ thought Sakura.

--

"Ahh that was a good sleep!" Sakura yawned and stretched her arms out as she awakened in her futon. As she blinked the sleep out of her eyes, something outside the window caught her eyes. There was a strange red-orange glow on the far ledge outside the room. She quickly changed clothes and walked outside to get a closer look. As she approached the ledge she saw that it was actually Naruto emitting the glow. She had not seen him since he dissappeared into town while the rest of the team attended the hot springs. Now she stared in awe at the sight before her. Naruto sat eyes closed and Indian style with his hands held out palm up to his sides. His spikes of hair waved around wildly as a flame like aura shrouded his body. The scene was picturesque as a comforting warmth radiated from him. There seemed to be a calmness emanating from him that was not characteristic of his normally turbulent nature.

"Did you need something?" His voice startled her, the scene had captured her mind and imagination.

"I didn't know you had taken up meditation, you almost seemed to have become one with the nature out here."

"Meditation helps retain focus, focus is the key point of every battle."

She chuckled, "I never thought I'd see the day of you prioritizing focus. A few years ago you couldn't sit still, now look at you. You're definitely not a kid anymore."

"If there's one thing I learned from that teme, it's that we never really were kids. He just figured it out before the rest of us."

"Not just him, you did too. That's why you used to try to be so happy and childish all time, to protect that innocence we all had. You knew even before he did that once it's gone..."

"It never comes back. I may not be that kid anymore, but I'll still fight for the kid I used to be and every other kid out there."

"Hmph! Like you need another reason to fight. You should just finally admit that you enjoy fighting for the sake of fighting."

"No way! Few people are like me. Most people fight much harder when they have a real reason too, I won't take that away from them when the face me. It makes it more interesting!"

--

Later that evening Yamato built them a wooden house to camp out in using a mokuton jutsu. The full team gathered upstairs where they were hammering out the details of their plan.

"I used the file on Sasori from Suna to get me started, but I need to know as more about his personality, speech mannerisms, habits and the like. You three have actaully seen Sasroi with your own eyes."

"Naruto and I didn't arrive until well after the battle had already started. We can fill you in on what what we learned, but Sakura will have the best details on the form you will be using." said Kakashi.

"One problem with all this, we still don't know what his real mission is." said Naruto directing their attention to Sai.

"What are you talking about. I have the same orders as everyone else here." said Sai defending himself.

"Yes a likely story." calmly stated Yamato when tree branches abrupty rose from the floor and lifted Sai out the window hanging by is ankle.

"_What are you orders..._" demanded Yamato in a dark voice. Kakashi put away his book and shook his head.

"I can't believe ANBU are still using such techniques for interrogation. Perhaps Hokage-sama should have Ibiki spread all his teachings throughout all departments." he said disappointed.

"The pervert would especially be ashamed to call that an interrogation from a leaf ANBU." added Naruto as he retrieved Sai from the branches and threw him onto the floor. Kakashi pulled a kunai from his pouch and walked towards Sai looming over him with Naruto standing behind him sporting a maniacal grin.

"Let me show you how to really interrogate someone..." began Kakashi.

--

"...and after I deliver the documents I'm supposed to join them in order to encounter Uchiha Sasuke and give him Danzou-sama's offer. Danzou-sama really wants to have him under his thumb or dead. That's all I can say! The seal won't let me speak of anything else!" rambled a panicking Sai. Kakashi allowed him to collapse against the wall and calmly put his kunai away.

"No matter what resistance training they've experienced it gets them every time." stated Naruto.

"So what do we do now?" asked Sakura. Sai revelations completely destroyed any possibility of their previous objectives succeeding.

"We can use this." responded Yamato.

"How so?" she questioned.

"Now that we know this is truly a trap we can do something different than originally planned upon." answered Kakashi.

"Also, since his mission was going to fail anyway, we can use his mission's failure to cover our own intentions." added Naruto.

"Yes here's our plan..." started Kakashi.

* * *

_**Thanks for reading and stayed tuned for the actioned packed encounter!**_


	5. Naruto's Pride

_A/N: For people who are questioning, why Naruto is so OC? I'm modeling his character after Vegeta's personality and attitude in this story as I mentioned in the first chapter's A/N. I'll make a note in the summary as well. As for pairings, Naruto is too concerned with fighting right now and it will be up to the girls to beat the romance into him. Even Vegeta was eventually tamed somewhat by Bulma._

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything

* * *

**Naruto's Pride**

Yamato shuffled across the bridge towards the cloaked figure waiting for him. The team spent the past day scouting the site and preparing for Kakashi's plan. They were all now in position waiting for the meeting to unfold.

"Sasori-sama...it's been a long time," greeted the cloaked figure, he slowly pulled his hood back revealing the face of Kabuto," Almost five years..."

"Where you followed?" replied Yamato.

"No, it's safe to speak." the now identified Kabuto assured him.

"How are you?" asked Yamato.

"I felt strange when you lifted the technique, somewhat disoriented. I still feel a bit heavy-headed." answered Kabuto.

"I have some questions for you..." began Yamato.

"I will answer as much as I can, my time is short here." interrupted Kabuto.

"That is fine. What hole are you hiding in now, and what is the status of his next host?" inquired Yamato.

"We have many locations, that rotate on a weekly basis to prevent discovery. We have bases in countries besides sound. Spies will get us into the country and take us to their locations. Our movement methods can be somewhat.. inconvenient at times. Our current base is hidden on a small island to the north. Uchiha Sasuke is also there, we will move from there in three days."

A sudden movement caught Kabuto's attention. He turned to the bushes only to see a rabbit stick its head out, as he turned back around he missed the rabbit being chased away by a small dog.

_'He's here, now I must wait for him to reveal himself...'_

"Ah, just a wild rabbit...By the way the corpse Orochimaru left behind after his transmigration could not be analyzed. The justu he places on it after the process makes it impossible." informed Kabuto.

"I see..." replied Yamato.

--

"What hell is he doing! He should have made a move by now!" grumbled Naruto from his hiding position.

"Show some patience, Yamato can't move to quickly or he will give himself away." chided Sakura.

"You fool! I'm not talking about Yamato!" replied Naruto.

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

Sai answered for him, "Orochimaru is already here..."

--

"Our time has come to and end. If I stay here any longer I will be discovered and killed. I require the item that we discussed." declared Kabuto.

"Very well..." as Yamato moved Kabuto noticed something off and quickly jumped to his side facing where he was previously standing. Kabuto and Yamato with a kunai in hand now stood facing Orochimaru.

_'Finally you show yourself...time to make my move'_ thought Yamato.

"This is an interesting conversation perhaps I should join in..kukuku.." hissed Orochimaru.

"Thank you, were it not for your kunai Sasori-sama, I could not have jumped back in time." said a thankful Kabuto.

"That cloak of yours Sasori, brings back memories..." said Orochimaru.

"I should have known you would follow him, not in your nature to truly trust anyone after all." stated Yamato.

"Kukuku..I wanted to thank you, that boy you sent me has been quite useful for my experiments. His medical techniques enabled me to reuse test subjects that would have been difficult to replace." said Orochimaru.

_'Hurry up and make your move...here it comes!'_ thought Yamato.

Kabuto covered his hand in chakra before turning and slicing open Yamato's disguise. The wooden shell collapsed revealing a red headed teen, on closer inspection they both saw that his body was made of wood. He jumped backwards away from the duo with the metal tail still attached to his body.

"I see my old friend, so you managed to complete the process after all." commented Orochimaru.

"I could say the same for you." replied the redhead.

"Is this really Sasori-sama?" asked Kabuto.

"Kukuku..I take it you've never shown your true appearance to a subordinate." answered a chuckling Orochimaru.

"**Senai Ta Jashu!**" The sannin pivoted back before thrusting his arm forward unleashing a mass of snakes from his sleeves. The snakes wrapped around the redhead trapping and pulling him face to face with Orochimaru.

"Kukuku..I know you're not Sasori, what happened to him?" inquired Orochimaru from the figure.

"He's dead, just like you." The redhead erupted in a ball of fire that triggered a massive explosion destroying the bridge. The smoke in area cleared revealing Orochimaru and Kabuto standing on the other side of the destroyed bridge looking back at the damage.

"Who was that?" asked Kabuto.

"Someone must have infiltrated his network and learned of the meeting. After the explosion I sensed them all flee. They probably did not expect for me to show up here." the Sannin replied.

"Do you think he is really dead?" inquired Kabuto.

"Most likely otherwise his network would not have been infiltrated. Come along Kabuto-kun it appears our work has already been done for us." The duo turned and sped back in the direction they came from when Orochimaru suddenly halted their progress as the figure of Sai dropped down in front of him.

"Kukuku...so it was root who infiltrated the network, how unexpected."

"I am not an enemy, merely a hand of Danzou-sama. I have come here with a message for you from him."

"That senile old fool is still alive? What could he possibly want?"

"I will only speak to you in the way I was ordered to by Danzou-sama."

"Choose your words carefully boy, or they may be you last." hissed Orochimaru. The Sannin and Kabuto abruptly jump backwards several yards as the ground they we're previously standing on gave way. They looked down to see pair of masked Konoha ANBU holding down a bound and gagged Sai at the bottom of the newly formed crater.

"Sorry to interfere but ever since we arrested that fool Danzou for corruption these Root ninjas have been popping up allover the place trying to buy his way out of execution. We've been on his trail for days." stated one of the ANBU.

"So the fool was finally caught. Really must be slipping in his old age." gloated Orochimaru.

"We'll be taking our leave now." stated the other ANBU.

"What makes you think you're going to be leaving here?" questioned Kabuto enveloping his hands in chakra.

"I'm sure your master over there already noticed that we're gone. The ground caving in was merely a distraction." The two ANBU and Sai suddenly vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Kukuku...so hard to find a leaf shinobi with an actual brain these days. I commend them!" stated Orochimaru with glee.

"Aren't you worried about them following us Orochimaru-sama?" asked Kabuto.

"They would never have revealed themselves if they intended to do so. Even if the chose to do so Sasuke-kun could use some new toys to play with. Come along now Kabuto-kun." Orochimaru ordered as they resumed their trek back to the base.

--

Yamato relayed in the information from his Mokuton Bushin that was observing the scene as Kakashi, Sai, and Naruto appeared at the predesignated location, "The seed is planted, and they believe we are off their trail."

"We will wait a few minutes before following." ordered Kakashi.

--

After allowing their targets to gain enough separation Team Kakashi picked up their trail. After several minutes of travel Yamato brought the squad to a halt in front of a large rock formation. He had sensed the chakra from the seed he planted on Kabuto stop here.

"This is the location, so they must be underground. The entrance must be through these rocks." informed Yamato.

"Naruto, go ahead." ordered Kakashi.

Naruto coated his hands with fire and placed them on the rocks. The center of the formation soon melted away into a hole large enough for them the climb through. Inside was a juncture between a passageway a large area of connected rooms.

"Hmm, alright we're going to split up from here. Sakura and I will search out this area. Sai and Yamato you search out the area that path leads to. Naruto I want you to search above ground for an areas that we might not be able to reach from down here." Kakashi ordered.

"What are we looking for exactly?" asked Sai.

"Any pieces of valuable information, if you encounter an sound ninja's do what you must. If you find Kabuto, Sasuke, or Orochimaru signal the rest of us. Do not engage alone. Also plant your high grade explosive tags as you go. After we clear out of this base we will leave nothing behind. Move out!" he commanded.

--

Kakashi and Sakura so far had come up empty on their search. Besides disabling a few low level Orochimaru minions their area had turned up with nothing.

"We haven't found anything except for useless scrolls, it's almost like this base has been abandoned." complained Sakura.

"Or at least this area of it. Looks like Sai and Yamato caught the unlucky draw." commented Kakashi.

"Why did you have Naruto search from above, i doubt he'll find anything." asked Sakura.

"The facility is not too far underground, if we ever got trapped somewhere he could help us escape from above ground...That's them! Common I hope we make it in time!" commanded Kakashi as he and Sakura bolted back in the direction of their comrades.

--

Yamato and Sai had progressed along smoothly as Kakashi instructed until now. Utilizing Sai's ink jutsu they were able to scout out any sound shinobi lurking around and disable them silently and efficiently. This was until they turned a corner to come face to face with Orochimaru.

"So you leaf shinobi decided to follow after all kukuku..." hissed the snake Sannin.

"Sai!" yelled Yamato as he flashed through various hand signs triggering roots to spring forth form the ground ensnaring the snake sannin. Sai used the diversion to escape ahead and continue the search.

"So it looks like one of my old experiments survived after all. Too bad that I have no time to play with you." Orochimaru dissolved into a pile of mud.

"Damn, where did he go!" yelled Yamato in frustration. While he didn't think he could handle Orochimaru alone, he knew Kakashi was on his way to help. Right as he thought this the copy-ninja and Sakura came racing through the passage way behind him.

"What happened?" asked Kakashi.

"We encountered Orochimaru, I used a diversion to allow Sai to escape ahead since I knew you were coming once I gave you the signal. Orochimaru then fled using a clone as a diversion."

"Why would he run?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know..." an explosion suddenly went off up ahead, "That's where Sai went!" declared Yamato. The trio charged up ahead and through a door to enter a room that had been blown open to the outside. They saw Sai kneeled on the ground panting.

"Guh, so you countered my jutsu." he uttered.

"Kakashi and Sakura." a voice rang out. The group looked up into clearing smoke and sunlight to see the figure of Sasuke standing high above them. Two puffs of smoke appeared next to him revealing the figures of Kabuto and Orochimaru.

"Kukuku..looks like you old friends came for a visit Sasuke-kun." stated Orochimaru.

"Yes, all except one. Where's the blond haired fool?" inquired Kabuto.

"Asketh for me and I shall oblige." a voice called out. The sound trio looked across from them to see Naruto standing on the opposite ledge.

"So we meet again Uchiha. I must say the training with the snake has made you look like even more of a fruitcake than before. What is it with you people and ass-bows?" mocked Naruto as he stood with his arms folded across his chest.

"Naruto, don't you have better things to do than chase after me? I'm not returning to that accursed village." responded Sasuke ignoring the insult.

"Who says I've come to drag you back to that hell hole? No, no, no, you see I've come here for one reason and one reason alone. The beat you down like the low class dog you are." retorted Naruto.

"Even with all your new found strength your nothing compared to Sasuke-kun." stated Kabuto.

Naruto fired a blast of fire from his hand in his general direction to silence him. The two former comrades dropped down into the area below facing each other down.

"So, how about it Sasuke shall we commence?" declared Naruto.

"You're not worth my time dobe." responded Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun doesn't have time to play with weaklings like you. Some of my weaker sound ninjas should be about your level." taunted Orochimaru.

Naruto notice a few Sound nin moving into the area to see what was going on. He unleashed a fireball from his hand that incinerated them all.

"He will fight with me, unless you want more of your shinobi to die! How about I start blowing up a few labs with your beloved experiments!" raged Naruto.

"How sad, I didn't think you were weak enough to allow yourself to be controlled by your demon. To think someone like you would have the Kyuubi inside of them. You're nothing more than a rampaging beast." commented Sasuke.

Naruto raised his hand out to side and fired off another fireball incinerating another group of sound shinobi coming through a passageway.

"You fool do you really think I'd allow the beast to control me! Hahaha! The Kyuubi is beast of rage and destruction. I merely allowed it to release me from my own inhibitions and free me from petty attachments. In a way I must say it feels pretty good. No useless bonds of friendship or dumb promises holding me back. I have been reborn into the warrior I always should have been!" roared Naruto.

"Naruto calm down! There is more to this mission than your meaningless rivalry!" yelled Yamato.

"Meaningless! Spend your life ignored and treated like you were nothing! The blood of the greatest warrior the world has ever seen flows through my veins yet my own village cursed my existence like I didn't deserve to live. Then watch as one who merely survived out of circumstance be given everything you wanted and deserved. One who reveled in your own humiliation. Tell me what matters then besides your own strength! Then to live in the shadows of another, this treacherous fool even saved my life on one occasion only to cast me aside like yesterday's trash on another! He has stolen my honor! And his debts...must...be...paid!" ranted Naruto.

Sasuke removed his blade from his sheath preparing for battle, "You could have become Hokage by now if you didn't waste time chasing after me. I spared your life on a whim before, this time I will end you."

"If you think you can do it go ahead!" declared Naruto dropping into a fighting stance.

Their thoughts were halted momentarily as Sakura positioned herself in between the two. Facing Naruto with her arms spread wide she held a look of determination on her face.

"Stop this you don't know what you're doing!" she yelled at him.

"What are you doing you fool! Get out of the fucking way!" yelled Naruto.

"No! I will not stand by and watch you two kill each other! We used to be teammates!" she responded.

"Sakura stand down now!" yelled Kakashi.

"I see what this is showing your true colors? Trying to protect you precious Sasuke? Not going to happen! I don't owe you anything anymore! We stopped being teammates the moment he shoved a fist through my chest!" excalimed Naruto incensed at her actions.

"That's not true!" she pleaded, " We can fix this! It can go back to the way it was before!" yelled Sakura.

Naruto tilted his head back and stared down at her with an insane gleam in his eye. He lifted his hand and a giant ball of fire formed in front of it.

"It can never go back you fool! I'll never allow it to happen! Stand aside or I will forcefully remove you from your fantasy world!" declared Naruto.

"Naruto and Sakura stop this right now!" yelled Yamato.

"You're even more like me than I thought, Naruto. Move you stupid girl before we make you." stated Sasuke.

"Now you'll have to go through me!" declared Sakura not budging.

"That's perfectly fine by me! I'm sure we can affix in the mission report how you protected a traitor from being eliminated and we had to take you out!" bellowed Naruto.

"Sakura move out of the way now! That is an order! You gave it a shot, but this will not be resolved peacefully." commanded Kakashi.

Her resolve finally faltered and she moved away back towards Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai.

"Now that the weak trash has been disposed of, it only leaves the idiot trash. You will not leave here alive Naruto." stated Sasuke.

"That's good to here Sasuke, now the table has been set! So let us begin!" exclaimed Naruto.

Suddenly Sasuke appeared right next to Naruto Sharingan spinning, "I've already started." Sasuke began to swing his blade a round to stab Naruto only for his wrist to be grabbed by Naruto halting his attack. He then attempted to gain some separation.

**"Chidori Nagashi!"**

The electricity sparked around his entire body, however Naruto remained in place.

"Nice move, but it's nothing compared to my **Karyuu no Manto!**" stated Naruto. A flame aura had surrounded Naruto's body and Sasuke noticed his arm was being burned where Naruto was grabbing him. Naruto then made his move.

**"Karyuu no Tekken!"** he yelled while punching him in the gut forcing Sasuke to double over in pain. "**Karyuu no Kakitsume!**" he followed with a kick that sent Sasuke skidding backwards along the ground.

_'What the hell why couldn't I anticipate his movements?' _thought Sasuke._  
_

"I bet your wondering why you can't predict my movements? My Karyuu no Manto not only protects me from attacks, it also blocks that precognitive ability of your sharingan! Those monkey eyes are nothing in front of me!" declared Naruto as he charged Sasuke meeting him head on in an exchange of punches and kicks. Sasuke soon found that the electricity surrounding his body seemed to cause no damage to is opponent, while he felt the burns from every hit Naruto tacked on.

_'I need to put some distance between us.'_ he thought as he jumped high in area away from Naruto launching a jutsu down at him.

"**Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu**!" a fireball raced toward Naruto who merely smirked as it approached.

"Bad Choice!" yelled Naruto before sucking in the fire attack through his mouth. "Here let me show you a real Fireball technique! **Karyū no Hōkō!"**

A fireball nearly quadruple the size of Sasuke's flew back toward the Uchiha who substituted away at the last second to witness the massive explosion cause by the blast.

_'I'm an Uchiha how could he have a greater fire affinity than me! His skills in elemental manipulation are off the charts!' _thought Sasuke._  
_

"The look on your face is priceless! Never thought anyone would have a greater fire affinity than you, but the truth is no fire affinity will ever match mine! I am a Fire Dragon Slayer! When the snake went to steal bloodlines all those years ago he picked the wrong one!" gloated Naruto.

Sasuke clenched in fist in anger, "I don't care about any of that. All I care about my revenge and my clan that was stolen from me!"

"What gave you the right to think that your revenge was more important than any other! All my life people have disregarded me as second class! You didn't need revenge, you had everything! And you threw it away for the promises of that pedophile snake! You are nothing more than another stain on the record of a useless clan! The Uchiha's have no honor! You're revenge is nothing! And once I'm through with you I'll leave you barely alive so when I kill your brother and I can deliver you his head personally!" raged Naruto.

"That right is mine and mine alone!" roared Sasuke in anger as he launched forward at Naruto.

"You have no rights! You are nothing!** Karyuu no Ikari!**" a whip of fire extended from his hand coiling around the Uchiha wrapping him with fire.

"AAAAh!" screamed Sasuke in pain. Naruto slammed him into the ground face down. He proceeded to walk over and stomp on his face rubbing it into ground as he screamed in pain.

"There you are right where you have always belonged! Yes, began for mercy you worthless trash! You deserve nothing!" raved Naruto.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" roared Orochimaru.

"It's only enough because you're losing! You allowed us to follow you here to humiliate us and show off your new toy! Now that he's been exposed for the weakling he is you're afraid...and I must say you have every right to be! Perhaps I should kill you now, what will the runt of the Uchiha litter do then!" proclaimed Naruto.

"Boy do you really think you can compare to me?" mocked Orochimaru.

Naruto unsealed his flying disk from the tattoo on his arm before jumping on it and flying high into the sky facing the Snake Sannin. He spread legs out and his arms out across from each other and his chakra level skyrocketed. A powerful aura of red fire surrounded him.

"HU-AHHHH!" grunted Naruto, "Prepare yourself Snake Sannin! Consider this retribution for Sandaime!"

"What is he doing!" yelled Yamato.

Kakashi observed silently with his sharingan spinning. Naruto suddenly brought his arms together with his wrists touching. The ground began to shake as the veins on his forehead and his muscled bulged. A white ball of fire began phase in and out of existence in front of him. Tendrils of chakra struck of from his body striking the ground creating craters and small explosions. The wind begin to pick and blow debris of rock around the battlefield.

"He's lost his mind! He going to destroy us all!" yelled Yamato shielding his face.

"Hold your ground! He's still in control! Let's see how this plays out!" stated Kakashi, _'You're not one for simply showing off anymore Naruto, this attack isn't you're endgame what's your plan?'_

"This kind of power is something you'd expect from the fox itself, not from Naruto." stated Sai.

"Naruto..." uttered Sakura who just stared at him in shock.

"He's bluffing! There is no way he'll fire an attack with that much power from here, he'll kill his comrades in the blast." said Kabuto who now held a barely conscious Sasuke over his shoulder standing a short ways away from Orochimaru. When the commotion picked he moved to protect his master's next body.

"This boy intrigues me to no end!" stated a smirking Orochimaru with a calculating gleam in his eye.

Thunder began to echo in the background and the ground below began to rumble at the power Naruto was putting out. The intense look on concentration on Naruto's suddenly turned to a smirk.

"Now if you really think your the greatest of the Sannin then just try and stop this!" roared Naruto.

"I think I've seen enough! We've got to do something! He's lost it and he's going to burn us all to ash!" declared Yamato.

_'He's provoking Orochimaru in challenging his attack! Genius!'_ thought Kakashi.

"Naruto, you don't have to do this! Please Stop!" exclaimed Sakura with tears in her eyes.

"Don't worry about him he can take care of himself. We need to move back and take some cover!" ordered Kakashi. The four Konoha ninja proceeded to retreat out the blast range.

**"Karyuu no Fainaru Furasshu!" **A massive white hot blast of fire erupted from in front of Naruto headed straight for the Snake Sannin.

**"Kinjustu: Rashomon!"** Orochimaru slammed his hands into the ground bringing up the three barrier gates. The blast hit the first gate and incinerated it easily.

Orochimaru stood confidently before realizing too late that the gates weren't holding up. "This can't be!" he yelled in terror as the blast reached him triggering a massive explosion.

As the dust and smoke cleared the area a heavily breathing Naruto observed his handiwork,"How do you like that one!"

"He actually broke through all three gates! Impossible! Look at what you've done to me!" screamed Orochimaru in pain. His body was covered in burns and charred black in most places. His left arm had been burned off into a stump just below the shoulder. He was also missing a chunk from the right side of his torso.

"Anyone up for barbecued snake! HAHAHA!" cackled Naruto.

"I'll get you for this humiliation boy! You and your wretched village! Get us out of here Kabuto!" raged a panting Orochimaru as Kabuto made hand signs before the three vanished into smoke.

An exhausted Naruto lowered himself to the ground amusement and satisfaction plastered all over his face.

"I don't believe what I just saw. He chased off a Sannin." stated a gawking Yamato.

"I do, he knew he could beat Sasuke and he manipulated Orochimaru into challenging his attack as a matter pride. Normally a guy like Orochimaru wouldn't have blocked he would have avoided it completely, but he wanted to show Naruto that he still couldn't compare to him." explained Kakashi.

_'I couldn't stop them. I thought I could at least reason with Naruto, but he wanted to fight more than Sasuke did. Did he really mean what he said? Who are you guys and what happened to my teammates?' _thought Sakura.

Kakashi noticed his troubled student, "Sakura you need to understand that Naruto and Sasuke aren't the same people anymore. They've grown up and matured passed the childish fronts they used to put up years ago. But you've grown up as well, stop looking towards the past and move forward towards the future."

* * *

Jutsu/Techniques

**Karyuu no Fainaru Furasshu - Fire Dragon's Final Flash: Massive destructive blast of white hot fire  
**

**Karyuu no Ikari! - Fire Dragon's Wrath - A whip of fire  
**

**Karyuu no Manto - Fire Dragon's Cloak - Flame aura that surrounds and protects the body  
**

**Karyuu no Kakitsume - Fire Dragon's Claw - Igniting the legs and feet to boost kicking power  
**

**Karyuu no Tekken- Fire Dragon's Iron Fist-Igniting the hands and arms to produce punching power  
**

**Karyuu no Hoko- Fire Dragon's Roar-A fireball released from the mouth  
**


	6. Nijyuu Shoutai

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Nijyuu Shoutai**

At a hidden base near the border of Rice Country, the silhouettes of the members of the Akatsuki all phased into view.**  
**

"Orochimaru had a run with the Kyuubi vessel recently." stated Pein.

Kisame let out a groan, "Please tell me that stupid snake didn't do anything to compromise our plans."

This time white Zetsu replied, "Quite the contrary, the Kyuubi vessel thrashed around Sasuke Uchiha before blasted through Orochimaru's Rashomon technique and burning the snake's arm off with one attack."

"Ha, looks like running off to that snake didn't do much for that brother of yours after all, eh Itachi?" commented Kisame.

Itachi ignored him, "So it appears his victory over Deidara was not a mere fluke."

"Ha! That bitchy blond asshole was a weakling. I should have been the one to kill him, so I could sacrifice him to Jashin-sama." declared Hidan.

"Hidan, if you don't shut up, I'm going to sacrifice you to your precious Jashin-sama." grumbled Kakuzu.

Hidan shrugged, "I'm actually alright with that."

There was an awkward silence, before they all pretended as if his previous statement never occurred.

"Looks like our target may provide a little entertainment before we take him down." said Kisame.

"Who said those two get the Kyuubi brat! Jashin-sama demands him!" declared Hidan.

"You two were supposed to be going after the nibi." reminded out Kisame.

"The info we got on her location was a bad lead. She wasn't anywhere near there." informed Kakuzu.

Pein frowned, "Then I guess we need to replace our spies in Kumo. Konan, that's your new assignment. Kakuzu, you had business for us in fire country correct?"

"Yeah, there's an easy lucrative target we can grab." he replied.

"Then after you're done with that, move onto to the Kyuubi Vessel since you're in the vicinity. I want him captured before he becomes even more of an annoyance. Itachi and Kisame, you two head to water country after the Sanbi." ordered Pein.

"Aw, man. Kyuubi brat sounded like fun." groaned Kisame.

"The Sanbi is currently unsealed." informed Pain.

Kisame's grin was back, "An trip back to my hometown could be fun!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**  
**

Deep with in the underground of Konoha, the leader of ANBU Ne sat pensively as his subordinate gave him a thorough description of his previous mission with a pair of other Ne members dictating the oral report word for word. Danzo showed no emotion throughout the entire report, analyzing everything internally until Sai finished. The normally emotionless subordinates were somewhat surprised with his response to say the least. The handling of the son of the Yondaime Hokage had always been a sore spot for their leader, feeling his rival was squandering a great resource by allowing the boy to come up as he did.

"It appears I have misread the Namikaze boy. Sarutobi may have indoctrinated him with that will of fire nonsense, but it seems he sees the world as it truly is. Your scope in assignment has now changed Sai, it appears the asset is no longer in need of protection. Continue monitoring Namikaze, when the time is right I will approach him about becoming an ally to the foundation. Having a visible figure who believes in our cause could be vital going forward." stated Danzo.

"Yes, sir." replied Sai.

"Based on your observations, how much of a threat is the Uchiha now?" questioned one of the Root members documenting the report.

"At this point, unless Orochimaru manages to take control of his body, he is an inconvenience at most. Both Hatake Kakashi and Itachi Uchiha far surpass him in their skill with the Sharingan." stated Sai. "Also, I would anticipate that when he is ready, Naruto-san will strike out against Itachi-san."

"Could he prove to be victorious?" questioned Danzo.

The other man documenting the report, who had been silent up to this point, responded, "Based on what Sai observed from the battle against Sasuke-san, he would give any Uchiha fits due to his natural defenses against the sharigan and their propensity for the Katon affinity. However, Itachi Uchiha is in a class all to himself. It would most likely take a combination of Hatake Kakashi and Namikaze Naruto."

Danzo turned over a few papers on his desk, "These new developments are intriguing. Allowing things to continue on their current path will call for some adjustments to my current plans. With Tsunade previously having no real power base, it was easy to stone wall her policies and push through my own when the time called for it, like getting you placed on that squad. Now she has the son of that man firmly in her corner; it's difficult to predict which way things will unfold. He's not the person I expected him to be whatsoever. There is one more thing I must know, since he is the vessel. Tell me Tori, based on his new psych profile, if the Namikaze boy were to be captured, what would he do?"

"He would never allow it to get that far. His nature in battles in the past gave far closer glimpses of his true self. Long before capture became a possibility, he would attempt a suicide maneuver that would kill both himself and the enemy in the process. It is not of some altruistic view of protecting his comrades either, his death would deny them victory. It's the only thing his pride could allow in loo of defeat." replied the Root shinobi.

"An interesting individual indeed..." muttered Danzo.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Deep within the walls of Konoha on Training Ground 31, a training battle raged on so intense that Might Guy and Rock Lee instinctively started ranting about the flames of youth all the way in Tea Country. A severely handicapped Naruto Namikaze waged battle against ten menacing fire dragon slayer enhance shadow clones without the use of his bloodline. Sweat poured down his forehead as Naruto leaned back to dodge the fire covered fist of his clone before bringing his forearm up to lock the leg of another. Special seals crafted by the toad sage covered the shirtless blond's upper body while massive weights were strapped to each limb. Every movement required the maximum amount of concentration, energy, and willpower the young blond warrior possessed. As a third clone launched a fireball at him, Naruto expertly spun and deflected the attack into another clone dispelling it.

"And I thought Gai was the only person this insane in his personal training." muttered an observing Kakashi. "Well him and that damn mini-me of his."

Jiraiya shook his head, "Combined with that limitless energy of from his mother's side with that insane ideas he get's from his father side and this is the result. When I was his age, after pulling off something like he did in your last mission, I'd rest on my laurels for a while until another ass kicking got me into gear."

"Instead he pushes himself even further beyond so the next challenge he conquers makes the previous one look like child's play." added Yamato.

A new voice entered their conversation, "I say he's pushing himself too much. He doesn't do anything but try to kill himself between missions where he does the exact same thing. He's going to burn himself out eventually."

The trio turned to see Tsunade approaching them accompanied by Ino who was holding a stack of hospital files.

Jiraiya rolled his eyes at her, "You think this is him pushing himself? This is just the warm up."

"We're waiting for him to finish, so they can get started on the real training Jiraiya-sama and I wanted to accomplish today." added Kakashi.

As the words left his mouth, the final three clones pinned Naruto in a triangle formation and unleashed a triple Big Bang Attack with their creator dead to rights. All three attacks hit their mark triggering a massive explosion that completely startled the group of observers.

"Shit! His bloodline is sealed off right now!" exclaimed Jiraiya as he covered his eyes from the debris kicked back by the explosion. Smoked poured out of the center of the training ground as it caught fire.

"Yamato!" called out Kakashi as he started flashed through hand signs.

"I'm on it!" replied the ANBU captain as he flashed through his own set of handseals and duo pulled from the water supply of the neighboring training ground to put out the growing fire caused by the explosion. Steam rose from the soggy and blackened landscape as the group anxiously awaited to see what became of the original Naruto. A rumbling sound from beneath the ground in front of them put them on alert, as the rocks and soil gave way to a figure shrouded in blue lightning. He shot forth from underground, high up in the air above the training ground. Three sparks of electricity shot off from his body, vaporizing the three remaining clones on the spot. As the figure landed the lightning around his body died down to reveal Naruto.

He gave his observers a blank look, "What the hell are you all staring at?"

Jiraiya pointed an accusing finger at him, "You didn't tell me how far along you were with your lightning form! A sensei is supposed to know these things!"

Naruto blew off his concerns, "It's nowhere near battle ready yet. It's insignificant."

Everyone else nearly face-vaulted, _'He calls that insignificant!'_

"I'm here to let all of you know that there will be a meeting later on this evening. We've received intelligence of Akatsuki movements, and I'm reshuffling some of forces in response." announced Tsunade.

"Well, I guess we'll have to hold off on what we had planned, these preparations are obviously more important." Jiraiya then gave her a funny look, "You could have just sent a messenger for that. Why did you make a detour all the way out here from the hospital instead of going back to your office."

"There's an intelligence source waiting in my office that you might want to compare notes with." Tsunade's eyes also flashed to Ino for a moment as she frowned. "I also need that information scroll from you."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at Ino. "You idiots busted her sake stash again, didn't you." he accused.

"Don't go jumping to conclusions about things you know absolutely nothing about." snapped Ino.

Kakashi shook his head, _'Looks like he hit the nail right on the head. When will those girls ever learn...'_

"Oh, I know all about it. Bitchfest 9 courtesy of the Uchiha Fan Club." retorted Naruto with a smirk.

Tsunade gave Naruto a surprised look, _'Where did that come from?'_

Ino shook off the barb easily, "Well, excuse me mister blow it up first ask questions later. Of course a neanderthal like you would assume that everything needs to be resolved with your fists! It's no wonder you were that deadlast of the academy, your caveman brain never developed higher reasoning skills."

_'Oh, snap!'_ thought Kakashi._  
_

"Oh, that's rich coming from you." growled Naruto.

Ino glared at him, "And just what is that supposed to mean!"

Naruto got right in her face, "You're no better than your pink haired harpy of a best friend. Tell me, is it possible for you to have a conversation without shattering the eardrums of anyone within a five mile radius? In fact it's probably your secret desire to turn this place from the Village Hidden in the Leaves to the Hidden Village of the Deaf."

_'Oooooo! That was a zinger!'_ thought a grinning Jiraiya. 'The sexual tension, this is great inspiration!'

"It's not my fault you're an annoying moron, who needs girls like us to keep you in line." retorted Ino.

"Keep me in line? Between your banshee shrill and her freakish strength, I'm lucky my brain hasn't turned to mush! Your lucky I haven't filed assault charges on your crazy asses." yelled Naruto.

Ino rolled her eyes, "You'd have to have a brain in the first place for it to turn to mush."

"You woman, are an insufferable shrew!" roared Naruto.

Ino blew a raspberry at him, "Dumbass flame breathing monkey!"

"Argh! You stupid girl! You're impossible!" growled Naruto as he stormed off towards the village.

"Where do you think you're going! You owe me an apology!" screamed Ino as she marched after him.

"You can kiss my ass, you crazy bitch!"

"I don't want to get rabies!"

"Stop following me!"

"Apologize to the great Ino-sama, and I might think about it."

"Go to hell!"

"That's no way to invite a lady to your home!"

"Do not test me woman!"

"Hehehe!" Jiraiya couldn't hold back the perverted giggle as he scribbling away in his notebook. "That is golden!"

Tsunade sweat-dropped at the sight of them, "Those two are just as bad as him and Sakura..."

Kakashi snorted, "Just as bad? They might be even worse."

Jiraiya got way too absorbed in the moment, forgetting exactly who he standing next to as he scribbled away, "Well, if the brat had taken some of my good advice, he could handling all that unresolved sexual tension right about now. Hehehe, between her and Tsunade's other pink haired apprentice, he could be living the high life!"

**'THWACK!'**

Kakashi let out a whistle as the Toad Sannin sailed off across the skyline of the village, "You can put it on the board...Yes!"

"Nice shot Hokage-sama." commended Yamato as he waved his finger around in the air to signal a homerun.

"You've started aiming with those, haven't you." added Kakashi.

Tsunade shrugged, "Just making sure the ladies of the hot springs get their daily shots in too."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

**"AND STAY OUT!"** shrieked several female voices as Jiraiya's beaten, bloodied, and unconscious body sailed over the fence and slammed up against a wall. One Anko Mitarashi had been on her way to the hot springs for a good soak, and spotted the sannin sailing over the wall.

Anko scurried up to him and leaned over his unconscious face, "Man, you just got knocked the fuck out!"

She rolled him over and rifled through his ninja pouch and pulled out his wallet, "Ha! Drinks and Dango on me tonight ladies!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_'Hm, The Effects of Medical Drugs, Power Medicine and Their Effects, The Preparation of Medicines...ah there it is!'_ Sakura plucked the green covered hardback book from the library shelf. The sound of someone reading to himself caught her attention, and she looked down the isle to find a pair of familiar faces seated at a table across from each other.

_'Sai and...NARUTO! I must be seeing things. No way is he in a library!' _thought Sakura._  
_

"Hey guys! Didn't expect to find you to here." greeted Sakura as she walked up to their table. Naruto looked up from the book he was reading a sour look crossed his face.

_'Great from one banshee to another.'_ thought Naruto. "Oh, it's you."

Sakura leveled a glare at the blond,_ 'What kind of greeting is that?'_

_'Nicknames and terms of endearment? Man, this relationship stuff is tricky.'_ thought Sai as he looked up to find Sakura glaring at Naruto.

"Sakura-san." greeted Sai.

"Hey, Sai. Are you here reading up on some art books?" asked Sakura as she slid into the chair next to Naruto, still glaring at the blond. Naruto let of a snort of amusement as he went back to his book.

"This fool is reading some rubbish on friendship and relationships. I told him all those books were nonsense, but he insisted on reading them anyway." informed Naruto.

"I think it's a good thing." replied Sakura.

"Yes, and next you'll be telling me there's a how to book on how blowing up hidden enemy bases." Naruto replied dryly.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, "That's not what I meant. I thinks it's a good thing he's trying learn and understand about how to interact with people and develop friendships. At least he's making an effort to learn how to interact with people instead being a big grouch all the time."

Naruto shook his head, "That is ridiculous, the only way to learn how to interact with people is to interact with people."

_'Is this how friends interact?'_ thought Sai as he observed the two. _'Insulting, criticizing, and arguing with one another, must be another form of endearment.'_

Sakura gained a haughty tone, "Yes, we could all learn a thing or two from the great genius Naruto-baka. What's an idiot like you doing here anyway? Reading picture books? It would do you some good to train your mind as well as your body. I mean you're stupid enough as it is..."_  
_

Naruto gave her a look of disgust, "Is that how you boost your low self esteem? Pointing out other people's faults and rubbing them in their faces? Are you really that pathetic?"

Sakura looked down in shame, "Hey, I'm sorry. I was just joking-"

Naruto started laughing, "I can't believe you almost fell for that! Seriously, I feast on barbecued puppies and the tears of small children that watch as I cook them in front of them. Your insults don't even register to me, but if it makes you fell better..."

"Na-ru-to!" growled Sakura.

"Pipe down already, we're in damn a library." grumbled Naruto. "I got enough lip from annoying pest you call a best friend earlier, no way I'm going to take even more crap from you."

_'Wait a minute...'_ Sakura gave him an irritated look, "What were you doing with Ino?"

Naruto let out a grunt of annoyance and the thought of their earlier episode, "That stupid girl spent nearly half an hour following me around and trying to drive me insane before I managed to ditch her by ducking in here."

_'What in the hell does that pig think she's doing!'_ thought Sakura.

"Excuse me, guys? But I would like to join in the conversation?" interrupted Sai.

"You want to put some of the things you read about to use? Is that?" asked Sakura.

Naruto chuckled, "Let's see what rubbish you've learned. By all means, please chat with us."

"It's not rubbish Naruto. I bet Sai is really getting the hang of friendships now thanks to those books." spoke Sakura in a scolding tone.

"The books said to start using nicknames as a means of endearment and familiarity. So yes, I agree with you that I'm starting to get the hang of this now, Ugly Bitch." replied Sai.

Haunting music seemed to echo in the background as the entire village seemingly froze in silence and turned their heads toward the trio, paying rapt attention to the apparent impending doom of Sai.

"SHANNARO!" roared Sakura. However, when she went to pound Sai into a pulp, both he and Naruto had vanished.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sai and Naruto appeared in a swirl of flames on top of the library roof, a big grin spread across Naruto's face.

The blond clapped his dark haired companion on the shoulder, "If you plan on making a habit of calling her that, make sure you have a quick escape route. Otherwise, nice job! Looks like I was wrong about the books after all! Ugly Bitch! Wait till mutt-breath gets a load of this!"

As Naruto took off across the rooftops, Sai pulled a notepad from out of nowhere and started jotting a few things down, "Some companions enjoy new nicknames, while others may try to kill you for them."

"SAI-BAKA! GET OUT HERE AND TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT LIKE A MAN!"

"Especially female friends..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Sometime later Naruto found himself seated in front of the Nara compound, engaging in a game of shogi with Kakashi as Shikamaru and Asuma did the same right next to them.

"So what's this big meeting later supposed to be about?" asked Asuma as he moved his rook. Shikamaru entered a thinking position as he half listened to the conversation and half-plotted his next moves.

"Akatsuki is on the move." answered Kakashi as Naruto made a move and captured one of his pawns. "Tsunade-sama feels it's time to start making some more direct moves in opposition to them."

"About time if you ask me." responded Asuma. "We've should have been taking steps to a nip a group like this in the bud along time ago. And not just us, all the hidden villages have been asleep at the wheel on this one."

"This is why people like you should be advisers and members of the council. The stale fossils we have now are too slow to react to anything, to content with maintaining the status quo." commented Naruto.

"For a ninja village, there shouldn't be such a thing as status quo. Status quo gets shinobi killed." muttered Shikamaru as he finally made a move.

"Amen to that." declared Asuma as he took a long drag of his cigarette.

"Enough talk about politics. Naruto, seeing you with the lightning manipulation early today really got me thinking." said Kakashi as he captured one of Naruto's pawns.

"Your second affinity is lightning? That's troublesome..." mumbled Shikamaru.

"Thinking about what?" Naruto questioned Kakashi.

"Remember a while back, on the mission in Mist when I told you about the rasengan being an incomplete jutsu?" asked Kakashi.

Naruto gave him an inquisitive look, "You said my father never got around to doing the last step before he died. But since he's dead it does us no good. We're stuck with it mostly as is."

"That's not entirely true." replied Kakashi. "My invention of the Raikiri and chidori came from trying to complete the Rasengan myself. I was unsuccessful, but the results were still very good."

Naruto raised an eyebrow at him, "Where are you going with this?"

"Manipulation...Troublesome...The final step to completing the Rasengan is elemental manipulation." stated Shikamaru.

Asuma's eyes widened, "But that's insane! That technique is powerful enough already, if you add an element to it...can it really even be done?"

"The rasengan is pure spatial recomposition, just normal chakra. So theoretically you should be able to add elemental chakra to it." reasoned Kakashi.

"Creating a rasengan is complicated enough as it is, how are you going to do that _**and**_ manipulate the elemental chakra at the same time?" questioned Asuma.

Naruto finally caught on to Kakashi's idea, "I don't have to do both, I only have to do one."

"Exactly, your body automatically produces fire chakra without you having to consciously think about it. All you have to do is create the technique using that chakra." said Kakashi.

Asuma shook his head, "Fire chakra is volatile by nature, just like wind. It's not easy as you're making it out to be."

"I'm not saying it's going to be easy. I'm just saying it can be done." stated Kakashi.

Asuma still couldn't wrap his head around the idea, "The power of a complete rasengan...It's going to be absurd."

"I know just the group of guys to help iron out the kinks of it once I get started." declared Naruto.

Shikamaru shook his head, "Shit is about to get real troublesome, real fast."

Naruto grinned at him, "Amen to that!"

"Naruto! Shikamaru!" The two turned around to find Chouji waving at them. Alongside him were Sai, Sakura, and Ino.

"We're going to eat at Yakiniku Q for dinner before the meeting. You want to come?" asked Chouji.

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes as he recalled where he'd seen Sai before.

Naruto caught the look, "That's right, you don't know about him yet. Turns out that he was our new squad member."

"Trouble-"

"You better not say what I think your about to say, Shikamaru!" yelled Ino.

The pineapple haired chunin rolled his eyes, _'Troublesome girl.'_

"Don't be thinking it either!" she added.

"We're going to meet up with the rest of the jonin, so go ahead and socialize with your teammates and comrades, boys. It's good for you." After getting no commitment from the two chunin in front of him, he added, "I'll even let you have dinner on me."

"Sold." declared Naruto as he rose to his feet.

"Whatever, let's get this over with." grumbled Shikamaru with a yawn.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Alright! Let's eat!" exclaimed Chouji as he went to dig in.

"Not so fast Chouji!" interrupted Ino. "We still haven't been properly introduced to Naruto and Sakura's new teammate."

_'First impressions are really important in building relationships with people. I better think of some good nicknames...'_ thought Sai.

"I'm Nara Shikamaru of the Nara clan. Nice to meet you Sai." muttered Shikamaru lazily.

"Nice to meet you too, Pineapple-san." greeted Sai.

Ino giggled at the nickname while Shikamaru shook his head, _'Must have picked that up from Naruto.'_

"Hey, Sai. I'm Akimichi Chouji of the Akimichi Clan." greeted Chouji.

"Nice to meet you too..." As Sai trailed off, trying to think of a nickname, he caught sight of Naruto mouthing something to him. Shikamaru had his hands under the table, ready to use the kagemane technique on his teammate just in case.

Sai gave Chouji the best real smile he could currently manage, "Big-Kahuna!"

Chouji grinned at him, "Big-Kahuna, huh? Yeah, I like the sound of that! Now let's eat!"

Naruto gave Sai a smirk and a reassuring thumbs up while Shikamaru wiped the sweat off of his brow.

_'Phew! Dodged a troublesome situation there.'_ thought Shikamaru.

"Hi! I'm Yamanaka Ino, daughter of the Yamanaka flower shop! Nice to meet you!" greeted Ino.

_'Okay, if you tell a girl what she looks like she get's pissed, so maybe I should go a different route with this one. Perhaps a different attribute...'_ he then caught Naruto mouthing something to him again out of the corner of his eye. _'Well, he was right about the last one...'_

Sakura inwardly smirked in anticipation of the rude awakening Ino was about to get, _'Ugly Pig, come on. Ugly Pig...'_

Sai smiled at Ino, "Nice to meet you too, Banshee Bitch."

The village froze in silence once again as the hauting tune began to echo with everyone turning their attention to the the Barbecue stand this time.

"Is this because of the same guy?" asked Izumo at the main gate.

"Shssh!" whispered Kotetsu.

"What! Was! That!" growled Ino, her eyes promising a painful death.

Naruto could hold back anymore as he exploded with laughter.

"AHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA!" Naruto banged his fist on the table as he continued to roar with laughter. "That was fucking awesome! Banshee Bitch! HAHAHAHAHA! And he called pinky Ugly Bitch! It's the Bitch Sisters! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

As tears started to pour out of Naruto's eyes from laughing so hard, the three boys slowly backed away from the table as massive of amount of killing intent spiked at Naruto from Ino and Sakura. Chouji was caught in a catch twenty-two, he wasn't done eating, but he didn't want to die in the crossfire. Being the proud Akimichi that he was, his stomach won out as he moved back to the table. Shikamaru wasn't going to let his best friend go down alone, so with a mutter of troublesome he slid back into his seat. Sai was completely clueless to the situation, and sat back down in his seat because the other two did.

"I hope there's a bed open in the long term ward of the hospital..." growled Sakura.

"I hope their isn't..." added Ino.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." said an evilly grinning Naruto as he halted in his laughter.

"And why is that?" snarled Ino.

"You two already busted up her stash of sake today. Do you want to add property damage onto the list? I'm sure you'll have an excellent training session tomorrow with the Hokage, won't you?" hinted Naruto, causing the girls to quickly run out of steam. "And let it be remembered, that's why you don't mess with Namikaze Naruto! In the end you always get burned! BWAHAHAHA!"

_'Laugh it up for now. You will pay for this, jackass!'_ thought the pair of fuming girls.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

A large portion the village forces gathered on the rooftop for Tsunade's debriefing. Approximately eighty of the shinobi had been organized into the new Nijyuu Shoutai (Twenty Platoon Squads) to combat the Akastuki who had made movements into fire country. A monk from the fire temple had arrived earlier, bringing news of an Akastuki attack on the Fire Temple. This had been the final straw for Tsunade, prompting her to mobilize these new squads.

_'So, this is the Nijyuu Shoutai. Twenty squads of our elite shinobi, just the sight of them all gathered together is pretty impressive.'_ thought Shizune.

"...that completes our briefing. Do any of you have any questions?" finished Tsunade.

Asuma raised his hand.

"Yes, what it is?" asked the Hokage.

"A former member of the twelve shinobi guardians, Chiriku, was at the Fire Temple. Any news on what happened to him?" asked Asuma.

"Chiriku-sama fell at the hands of those two fiends." informed the monk.

Asuma's eyes widened in shock, _'How strong are these guys for even Chiriku to be killed?'_

"I want to find out every single detail about these Akatsuki: their plans, their membership, their previous actions, their bases, where they eat, where they sleep, even who the hell the sat behind in the academy. If capture is not an option, destroy them. They do not leave the fire country, period. Now go out and find them. Dismissed!" commanded Tsunade.

The twenty platoons of shinobi all quickly departed from sight, leaving the rest of gathered forces with Tsunade.

"Now as for the rest of you..." began the Hokage.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kakashi, Asuma, Naruto, and Shikamaru all landed together on a nearby rooftop.

"You, seem to have an angle you want to work on this one." commented Kakashi.

Asuma dropped the end of his cigarette butt on the ground an put it out with his foot, "Yeah, let's start our search at the fire temple."

"Sounds like a fine place to begin." added a smirking Naruto.

Shikamaru let out a sigh, "I just know shit's about to get real troublesome...

"Oh, that's guaranteed." said Kakashi

* * *

A/N: It's been a while for this story. Got caught up in my other ones and had a bit of mental block on this one. So, I'll see where this muse takes me for now...Now Review or Burn! Mwahahaha!


	7. Zombies Ate My Neighbors

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Zombies Ate My Neighbors  
**

Asuma stood idly for a moment, staring off blankly across the village rooftops. He reached inside his pocket for a new cigarette and found his carton empty. The dark haired ninja let out a grunt of annoyance as he tossed it away, "It's a sticky job, but somebody's got to do it."

Naruto rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Will you hurry up and say goodbye to your woman, so we can leave already?"

A light blush spread across Asuma's face as he turned away from his three comrades, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Naruto let out chuckle, "You can't fool my nose, your scent is also coming from that apartment building about four blocks over."

"Plus, Kurenai just walked out onto the veranda." added Kakashi, ready for travel with his nose already stuck in an Icha Icha book.

Asuma refused to give in, even though they had pegged him dead on, "You guys are speaking nonsense."

Shikamaru gave his sensei a funny look before shaking his head and muttering, "Too damn troublesome."

"So that's how it's gonna be? Fine." Naruto gave a slight nod towards Kakashi.

"Hey Kurenai! Don't worry, we'll bring Asuma back home after we're done playing!" yelled Kakashi.

A slightly shocked Kurenai suddenly looked up from the laundry she was hanging up, spotting the silver haired jonin waving at her.

Kurenai waved back, "Be careful out there! All of you!"

"Bye, honey." replied Asuma as he waved back, unable to hold back blushing any longer.

"A moment of silence for our venerable leader." said Naruto as the he, Shikamaru, and Kakashi mimicked the sound of a whip cracking.

"You guys are just jealous..." grumbled Asuma as they departed towards the gate.

Kakashi grinned at him, "Then good sir, do tell, what is hiding under those magnificent wrappings?"

Asuma snorted, "Dream on."

Naruto snorted, "Wrong thing to say to a guy with an Icha Icha addiction..."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After a couple days travel, the four man squad arrived at the fire temple. The Akatsuki attack had completely wrecked the temple, the monks were just now finishing up gathering the bodies of their deceased brethren from the wreckage.

"I'm sorry to say that Chiriku-sama is the only body we haven't been able to locate, Sarutobi-dono." informed one of the monks.

"One of the MO's of the Akatsuki is cashing in on high paying bounties." stated Kakashi.

"You're right on the money." replied Naruto as he flipped to Chiriku's page in the Bingo Book. "That monk just got a massive upgrade in the Bingo Book. Someone put a bounty of 30 million on his head."

"That means they're probably at the exchange point right now." stated Shikamaru.

"Naruto-" began Kakashi, only for the blond to cut him off.

"Yeah, I'm on it." grunted Naruto as he flipped to another page the Bingo Book. "There's an exchange point close to our area and four more within the searching scope of our other platoons."

"Good, I'll send word to the teams in those areas to check them out." stated Kakashi, pulling out a piece of paper and walking towards the messenger birds.

"Alright, once that's done, we'll move out." ordered Asuma.

Naruto glanced over to one of the monks and gave him a feral grin, "You guys might want to say a few prayers. Before the day is over, we going to have some blood on our hands..."

"Speak for yourself..." muttered Shikamaru.

It took Kakashi only a few more minutes to send out the messages, "The other squads should be on their exchange points not too long after we reach ours."

"Thank you for your assistance." Asuma said to the monks as they turned to leave.

An elder monk caught sight of the sash hanging out the bottom of Asuma's flak jacket, "That waistband...you were once a member of the 12 Ninja Guardians like Chiriku. You have a bounty on your head as well Sarutobi-dono. Please be careful."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at this, not knowing of this information previously.

Asuma waived off his concern with a grin, "You don't have to worry about me. My bounty is worth 5 million more than Chiriku's, it'll be a lot tougher for them to take my head."

Naruto started snickering, "Only 35 million? That's kind of sad for a jonin."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, "Not all jonin are as famous as me and no ninja period is as big of a pain in the ass as you are."

"35 million is a damn good bounty..." grumbled Asuma.

Shikamaru let out a yawn, "Traveling with all you high bounty guys...damn troublesome. If I get killed, I'm haunting you guys."

Naruto snorted, "That's only because you'd be to damn lazy to make the effort to move on the next world."

"Yeah, you'd probably leech off of our shadows and watch clouds all day." added Asuma.

Shikamaru grinned, "Sounds like a damn good afterlife to me."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hidan and Kakuzu made their way through the bathroom of a run down building, the latter with the body of Chiriku draped over his back. As the Akatsuki pair moved towards the back wall, a section of the wall in between a pair of urinals slid back to reveal the hidden entrance of the bounty exchanger.

A bald man with as crossed shaped scar above his right eye and a goatee stuck his head out and welcomed them in, "Right over here."

Hidan ran his hand through his hair in annoyance, "They actually hid the entrance to this place behind a urinal? You have got to be fucking kidding me..."

The two followed the short man inside where he led them into a wide open room that was set up like a morgue. The man opened up a wall drawer and pulled back an empty stone slab for Kakuzu to lay the body down onto.

The man took a look at the 12 Guardian Ninja sash and face to confirm the kill, "This is Chiriku alright. You just keep bagging those big timers one after another, Kakuzu."

"Sure." replied Kakuzu as the guy handed over a briefcase.

Seeing the deal presumably done, Hidan was ready to go, "Let's get a fucking move on. This place fucking reeks."

Kakuzu ignored his partner as he opened the briefcase and started going through the bills.

Hidan growled in annoyance, "What the fuck, Kakuzu! I said let's go!"

"Hang on, I still have to count the money." replied an annoyed Kakuzu.

Hidan shook his head and started walking out, "Fuck this shit. I don't know where that fucking smell is coming from, but I'm not standing in it anymore. I'll wait outside. Stankin' ass motherfuckers..."

Kakuzu just rolled his eyes as he continued to count the money.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Kakashi lead the four man formation with Naruto covering the rear as the squad leaped across the trees towards their destination.

After giving Asuma a few inquisitive glances, Shikamaru finally decided to ask the question that had been bugging him for a while now, "Hey, Asuma-sensei, who was this Chiriku guy to you anyway?"

Asuma raised an eyebrow at his student, "Where is this coming from?"

"From the beginning of this mission you've been acting differently. Whenever we've been on a mission with Kakashi, you always let him take point." responded Shikamaru.

"Huh. I didn't even realize that." muttered Kakashi. "Lazy bastard."

"Plus, you haven't even lit up once since we left the village." added Shikamaru.

"I guess nothing gets past you these days." said Asuma. "The fact that it's Akatsuki already put me on notice, but the fact that they managed to kill Chiriku means this pair is definitely no joke. That's why I haven't been smoking, don't need the distraction."

"You still haven't answered my question." reminded Shikamaru.

"I guess you could say that me and Chiriku are similar to you and Chouji." responded Asuma. "That a good enough answer for ya?"

"Yeah, it explains a lot." replied Shikamaru.

"Heads up, men. We're almost there and it looks like we've got company..." informed Kakashi.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Hope to do business with you again soon, sir." said the exchanger as Kakuzu turned to leave.

"I'm sorry to say that you won't be seeing us anytime soon. Our next target is the jinchurikki of Konoha, our organization wants him alive first." replied Kakuzu.

"That's too bad then, but if I may make one suggestion. You should probably opt for a new partner. The one you have doesn't seem to be too interested in turning a good profit. Quite frankly, he'll probably end up being bad for your business."

"I already know that." replied Kakuzu. "The guy has zero interest in making money, but there is a reason why he's my partner."

This really poked the man's curiosity, "Why is he your partner then?"

"The reason is quite simple. Every single one of my old partners is dead. I have no patience for incompetence, the second I get pissed with someone I kill them." stated Kakuzu. "But this guy won't die. I've tried before many times, but I just can't manage to kill him. It's as simple as that."

A stunned look crossed the man's face as Kakuzu exited the hideout.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"This is some major bullshit. I was barely in that fucking dump for five minutes and now my clothes smell like shit." complained Hidan. "Fuck!"

He then heard someone approaching and turned to face what he thought was his partner.

"About fucking time-" his rant was cut off as he found the fire enshrouded form of Naruto charging him. The gray haired Akatsuki member quickly yanked on the metal cable hidden under his sleeve, unleashing his three bladed scythe directly at the incoming foe. He smirked when Naruto was unable to dodge, and the scythe embedded itself in his chest continuing flying back until it pinned him up against a wall.

"Too easy-" Hidan's gloating was cut short as the Naruto pinned to the wall grinned before vanishing in a puff of smoke. He then caught sight of Kakashi and Asuma rapidly closing in on him from the side in his peripheral vision. He went to move, but suddenly found himself frozen place.

"You're finished." declared Shikamaru as Hidan finally caught site of him sitting on the roof.

Asuma ripped into his jugular and femoral arteries with his trench knives while Kakashi brutally carved up his chest with a fuuma shuriken.

"One down!" proclaimed Asuma with a satisfied look as they leaped back to observe their handiwork.

To all of their surprise the Akatsuki ninja didn't collapse into a puddle of his own blood, but instead started cursing up a storm. "What the fuck man! I'm just sitting out here, minding my own damn business, and you sons of bitches pull this shit! This fucking hurts, assholes!" cursed Hidan.

"I know I hit his vitals, for sure..." muttered Asuma.

"I drove mine right through his heart..." added an equally puzzled Kakashi.

"Just look at how much shit you fucked up with this blade! Fucking bullshit, man!" yelled Hidan.

"He's somehow invulnerable." hypothesized Kakashi as he looked him over with the sharingan.

"Now you shitheads are catching on." growled Hidan. "Who the fuck are you ass wipes, anyway?"

He then caught a closer look at Asuma and Kakashi. "Ah shit! A couple high bounty tree-fuckers, now I have to go back into that reeking shit hole of a bounty station. Thanks a lot, shitheads!" grumbled Hidan.

"And he's got one hell of a mouth on him." added Kakashi to his earlier assessment.

"The other one should have shown himself by now." said Asuma as he scanned around. "With this guy sitting out in the open, we figured we could take out one Akatsuki before dealing with the other..."

"Ha! Looks like you picked the wrong one, dumbass." taunted Hidan.

Right on cue, the roof of the building exploded revealing Kakuzu as he made a beeline for Shikamaru, his fist cocked back ready to strike. Naruto suddenly appeared in front of the other Akatsuki, covering for the Nara with a fire enhanced fist cocked back to match Kakuzu. However, Shikamaru had already moved to retreat, breaking off his shadow possession of Hidan. The moment the jutsu wore off, Kakashi and Asuma retreated even further away from Hidan, regrouping next to Naruto and Shikamaru. Kakuzu avoided Naruto all together, opting to dart over next to his partner.

"Well, would you look at this. You happened to stumble upon some money, Hidan." casually commented Kakuzu. "Copy Nin Kakashi and another one of the Twelve Ninja Guardians."

Hidan snorted in disgust, "Whatever. Just don't get in my way. These fuckers will be my ceremonial offerings to Jashin-sama. You can handle the money afterward."

Hidan began using his foot to create a circular symbol on the ground from blood spilled by Kakashi and Asuma's attacks.

"Do as you wish." replied Kakuzu. "Just don't let your guard down, or you might actually die."

Hidan rolled his eyes at his partner, "Why are you talking nonsense? I want them to kill me in they can kill me, but it's impossible right?"

"If it's going to be one-on-one, that's right up my ally. They don't know who I am yet." declared Naruto. "Just make sure tall, dark, and ugly keep's it honest."

Kakashi quickly shot that notion down, "We're not going to play this one on one. We don't have enough information. We need proceed with caution since it appears the normal methods of killing and incapacitation will be unavailable to us."

"Shikamaru, you hang back we three engage this invulnerable guy. Naruto, you leave a few clones back to cover him." ordered Asuma. "Shikamaru, I want you focused on finding an opening, then binding him. Kakashi, I think you should try that Kamui technique of yours this time once he is bound, so once he is caught you back off and prepare it."

All three nodded in acceptance of his orders, "Got it."_  
_

"Shall we kick this off with a bang, gentleman?" suggested Kakashi.

"Do you even have to ask?" retorted Naruto.

Lining up all in a row the three started off with a devastating combination technique.

**"****Karyuu no Houkou****! (Fire Dragon's Roar)"**

**"Fūton: Daitoppa! (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)"**

**"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu! (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)"**

"Well I'll be damned, that's pretty impressive..." muttered Kakuzu as he watched the three techniques merge into a massive wave of fire headed straight for his partner.

Hidan growled as he flung his scythe out to the side where it embedded itself in a building wall and the metal cable retracted, pulling him out of harms way. A barrage of shuriken from Asuma quickly forced Hidan to deflect the projectiles with the Fuuma shuriken he'd previously extracted from his own body. Expanding the blades, he fired the shuriken right back at Asuma, who cut right through the weapon with his trench knives, rendering it useless. Naruto engaged the gray haired immortal next, Hidan swiftly avoiding a right handed hay maker. Hidan followed with an elbow to the gut that Naruto blocked, while both simultaneously struck with strong left kicks, sending each other skidding back a few feet. Hidan leaped into the air again to avoid the hands of Kakashi as he emerged from underground. He yanked on the cable to his scythe swinging around to slice at Kakashi, but Asuma appeared in the blades path blocking with his trench knives. Hidan quickly rolled to the left to dodge a blast of fire courtesy of Naruto, but it only proved to be a distraction as Kakashi and another Naruto appeared in front of him, nailing him with a double punch to the chest that sent him flying. Hidan yanked on his scythe as he flew back, disengaging it from Asuma in process. The tip of the scythe raked across his forearm, but he paid no attention to the minor scratch.

"You're finished!" declared a smirking Hidan as he came to a stop after skidding back on his feet, and darted back towards the circle symbol where he started the battle from. He pulled the scythe back into his hand and licked the tip of it, and as he did so his body began to transform. He gained a grim reaper like appearance with black skin and white bone markings.

"Fool..." muttered Naruto, as he noticed Hidna retreated back to the spot where he started the battle. The dragon slayer fired off a concentrated blast of fire right in front of the spot, his attack landing just before Hidan reached the spot.

**"Dragon Bomb!" **The fire bomb exploded on his command, however, instead of the Hidan swearing from the pain, it was Asuma.

"Shit!" cursed Asuma. His comrades turned to him to find him grimacing as the left side of his face and right arm was covered in burns.

"It burns doesn't it, asshole?" mocked Hidan. "Maybe now, you'll begin to understand the pain of others."

_'He charged right through that blast and somehow Asuma got injured from the burns as too...'_ thought Kakashi.

"This guy with the fire attacks, don't tell me Hidan's this lucky..." mumbled Kakuzu as he started flipping through his Bingo Book.

"What the hell just happened!" growled Naruto.

"You bitches are now cursed." declared Hidan. "Now it's time to start my ritual! Prepare to savor the utmost pain together!"

"Oi! Hidan! You can't kill the blond one! I'm pretty sure he's the kyuubi container!" announced Kakuzu.

"Well, that fucking sucks!" complained Hidan. "I guess I'll just have to make it extra painful for him! You still better stay out this!"

Kakuzu waved him off, "Yeah, yeah. Have your damn fun. I don't care as long as we get the bounties. The kyuubi-punk has a high one too, but that will have to wait until after we unseal him."

_'How did Asuma get burned? This doesn't make any damn sense!'_ thought Naruto.

"Shit! Don't tell me this is apart his technique now that his body changed..." mumbled Shikamaru.

"You alright?" asked Kakashi as moved next to Asuma.

"It's only flesh wounds, I can still fight." replied Asuma. "But, that's the least of our problems."

"I don't know what bullshit you're trying to pull, but I'm not falling for it!" yelled Naruto as he charged the immortal.

"Oh, yeah?" Hidan took a retractable spear out his cloak, extended it to its full size, and stabbed himself through the leg. Immediately Asuma went down to ground clutching his left leg.

"Dammit!" swore Asuma.

"This technique, he somehow linked his own body to Asuma-sensei's!" yelled Shikamaru. "He's like a living voodoo doll!"

"Naruto, stand down!" commanded Kakashi, freezing the blond his tracks.

Hidan cackled with glee, "I bet that one was really painful! But, we've only just begun! The real pain comes from the vitals! I can't fucking wait! The pain from someone dieing flooding through my body, I can almost taste it! More pain? Or should I end it for you now?"

"Shikamaru, freeze his movements!" ordered Kakashi.

"I'm on it!" yelled Shikamaru.

Hidan positioned the spear at his chest, preparing to impale himself on the tip, but his incessant gloating proved to be costly.

"You should feel privileged! A worthless piece of shit like you has become the next sacrifice to the almighty Jashin-sama!" roared Hidan. "Now, die asshole!"

"Not on my watch!" yelled Shikamaru as his shadow connected with Hidan's.

"Shit!" swore Hidan as his body froze in place again. His body mimicked Shikamaru's movements as the Nara slowly shuffled his body to the left, moving Hidan outside of his circle.

"Thank goodness, he figured out the secret." grunted Asuma as he slowly rose to his feet.

"We've got to keep him away from the symbol he created on the ground. That's the link to his technique along with the opponents blood." informed Shikamaru.

Asuma shook his head, "That little scratch enabled him to do this?"

Shikamaru nodded, "That weapon is designed for drawing blood from an opponent. Once he gets your blood and does his little ritual, it's usually over. But, he has to stay inside the symbol for it to work. That's why no matter how far we drew him away from that spot, he always moved back in its direction."

"He figured all of that out, that fast?" mumbled a surprised Kakuzu.

"The brains did his part, now it's my turn!" declared Naruto as he rushed Hidan, his body enshrouded in flame once again.

**"Dragon Horn!"** Naruto clotheslined Hidan with a violent Lariat attack, sending the gray haired ninja flying away from his symbol. A Naruto clone laid in wait for the jashinist, somersaulting into a double kick that sent Hidan flying up into the air.

"Fuck!" swore Hidan when he realized he was headed straight for yet another Naruto clone.

**"Dragon Buster!" **The clone sent him crashing back down into the ground with a vicious double axe handle.

Kakuzu let out a whistle, "Hidan is no joke when it comes to strength in taijustu. The jinchurikki isn't half bad."

Hidan now lay in the bottom of a sizable crater, his body facing down into the ground and his head facing back up towards to sky.

"Damn that feels a lot better! Thanks man, I had this annoying crick in the back of my neck for a while now." muttered Hidan.

"I just snapped his fucking neck! What the fuck is this!" roared Naruto in frustration.

"That's some weak shit is what is!" mocked Hidan as he sat up and snapped his head back into place.

Naruto was really starting to get pissed off, "You piece of fucking trash! I'll just take your head clean off, you fucking masochistic freak! Let's see you get up from that asshole!"

"Shouldn't somebody be trying to calm him down?" questioned Shikamaru.

Kakashi shook his head, "He's not really angry. He's just annoyed. When he's really pist off...well you'll know."

"This is so damn bizarre. It's like watching the unstoppable force, meet the immovable object." commented Asuma.

Hidan quickly reached his feet, his bones cracking loudly as he snapped his head back into place.

_'This guy likes close range, I'll keep him at a distance.'_ thought Hidan as he unleashed his scythe at the charging Naruto.

To his surprise Naruto suddenly halted and yanked the scythe out of mid air once in reached him, entering into a tug of war with Hidan.

"Hey, let fucking go!" snarled Hidan.

"Hell no!" yelled Naruto.

Hidan retracted the cable in the opposite direction, sending himself flying back towards Naruto and scythe, leveling the surprised blond with a flying kick.

"Jackass. Keep your hands off my damn scythe." grumbled Hidan when he then noticed the Naruto he hit vanish into a puff of smoke.

"Well, shit." he muttered as two clones closed in on him from both sides.

**"Double Dragon Horn!" **The two lariat attacks coming from both sides met at Hidan's neck and took his head right off his shoulders. It popped up into the air and landed on the side of his face several feet away.

"And the unstoppable force wins." dryly announced Shikamaru.

Asuma cringed slightly, "That was brutal!"

"And I think he just made it up." added Kakashi.

"I think I'll have his head stuffed and mounted on my wall as souvenir." declared Naruto.

"Like hell you will!" yelled Hidan's head.

_'What the fuck...'_ were the collective thoughts of the four Konoha shinobi observing the scene.

"Kakazu! What the fuck are you just standing there for! Bring me my body! What the fuck! I said my body!" screamed the talking head, as Kakuzu yanked it up by the hair.

"Your head is lighter." retorted an annoyed Kakuzu.

"Well then at least pick up my head! Don't drag me by the hair, it's fucking painful!" bitched Hidan.

Kakuzu rolled his eyes, "You just got decapitated and you're complaining about the pain from me pulling you hair?"

"Shut up asshole! You don't want me to get started on the pain in my neck!" shouted Hidan. "That was no clean decapitation!"

"You have got to be shitting me..." muttered Naruto.

"Shut up the fuck up! You fucking asshole! Cutting my head off like that! You don't have a fucking clue how much this hurts! This fucking painful asshole!" ranted Hidan.

"Naruto just decapitated that guy, right?" asked Asuma.

Kakashi nodded, "Uh-huh."

"And he's still alive?" asked Asuma.

Kakashi nodded again, "Uh-huh."

"Good, just checking." replied Asuma.

"This is about to get a lot more troublesome." warned Shikamaru. "I doubt the other guy is going to continue sitting on the sidelines now."

"And he's probably the stronger of the two..." mumbled Asuma. "How far away is our backup?"

"Still a half an hour away at best." answered Kakashi. "Hopefully, they have a medical ninja with them, but there's no guarantee."

"Looks like you were right, eh Shika?" joked Asuma. "Shit has gotten real troublesome, real fast."

"Things may not be as bad as they seem." stated Shikamaru. "Immortal or not, that guy still needs a body to fight. Right now he can't do anything, meaning we just have to worry about the other guy."

"You wish." retorted Kakuzu as he knelt down in front of Hidan's body.

"There's no time to assist weaklings!" roared Naruto as he fired a Dragon Bomb attack right at Kakuzu once his back was turned. "That's why you never turn your back the Konoha's Inferno. You never know when that final burn is going to do you in."

The arrogant smirk was quickly erased from his face when the smoke from the attack cleared to show Hidan and Kakuzu not even singed by the attack. To their surprised, Kakuzu was sowing Hidan's head back onto his body with some strange black threads coming out of his sleeves.

Asuma couldn't believe it, "You have got to be shitting me..."

"That's much better." sighed Hidan as he moved his neck around once Kakuzu was done.

"Hey! Don't move it too much, it'll come off again." warned Kakuzu.

Kakashi stared at the scene in front of him in disbelief, "He reattached his head..."

"Just what in the hell are we up against?" muttered Shikamaru.

Kakuzu let out a grunt of annoyance, "I can't believe you dragged me into this. You take forever with everything man! Your long damn speeches and your long damn rituals, you have got to be slowest ninja ever."

"Whatever." replied Hidan, rolling his eyes. "Leave the Kyuubi-punk to me. He and I have a little score to settle."

"Fine, I'll take care two bounties and you handle that shadow punk too. Just make sure not to kill the vessel." reminded Kakuzu.

"I know dammit!" retorted Hidan.

Naruto had been seething with anger ever since Kakuzu emerged from his attack unscathed, and Hidan's last comment finally pushed him over the edge, "I don't give a fuck if even both of you are immortal! I'm going to blast you into oblivion!"

He outstretched his arm at the two and fired a massive Big Bang fireball right at them.

"Hit the deck!" yelled Kakashi as he, Shikamaru, and Asuma dove for cover.

Naruto roared with laughter as he watched the aftermath of the explosion. His laughter quickly evaporated as the smoke and debris to reveal the pair of Akatsuki wrapped up in a cocoon of black threads, completely unharmed. The threads quickly retracted into a mask-like object sitting at the feet of Kakuzu.

"You'll have to do better than that shit stain!" mocked Hidan.

"That guy is almost as annoying as you, Hidan." dryly remarked Kakuzu.

"Fuck you, man!" retorted Hidan.

"The skeleton is mine!" growled Naruto, flames violently churning around his body.

"Shikamaru, cover Naruto as best you can. Back-up should be here any minute now." ordered Asuma.

"This is not good..." mumbled the dark haired chunin as he moved to shadow the battle between the dragon slayer and the immortal. The mask object sprouted more threads as it moved to follow Hidan as the battle moved away from Kakuzu, Kakashi, and Asuma.

"So, what's up with those threads?" Asuma asked Kakashi.

"They can move and they're laced with chakra." deadpanned Kakashi.

"Fat lot of good that sharingan eye is." grumbled Asuma.

"Yep, nothing but a big chakra drain." added Kakashi.

"Let's make this quick. I want to cash in your bounties before the exchanger closes up from the day." announced Hidan.

Asuma pumped more chakra into his trench knives, extending their range, while Kakashi activated the Raikiri in both hands. The two charged Kakuzu, who in turn sped forward to meet their dash. The masked ninja suddenly halted as a pair of hands from a Kakashi clone hidden under ground emerged and grabbed onto his legs. He was undeterred by the maneuver, however, flipping back his sleeves and thrusting his arms forward where the bottom half of his arms separated at the forearm and stretched forward using the black threads. The two jonin reacted accordingly, deflecting the hands aside once in range and slicing through the thread bundles to break the connection. The threads quickly spread out trying to grab a hold of the Konoha pair, but Asuma used the full extent of his knives range to cut the threads back. Kakashi capitalized on the created opening by rushing to Kakuzu's body and plunging both Raikiris right into his chest cavity. A look of surprise flashed across his face before he quickly pulled his arms out and retreated away from the Akatsuki member.

"Figures a pair zombies would be teammates." muttered Kakashi as he watched massive hole he just created, close right back up with the black threads.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Shikamaru wasn't quite sure what to make of the battle he was watching. There was no strategy, no planning, just pure carnage. Naruto seemed content to deal out as much damage as possible until he found Hidan's breaking point and Hidan, being the masochist that he was, seemed to content to take said punishment until Naruto eventually ran out of gas. A taijustu slug fest kicked it off, with Naruto abandoning all concept of defense, just dealing out massive crushing blows one after another. Hidan returned the favor when he could, eventually enabling himself to draw blood after a vicious uppercut to Naruto's chin. Shikamaru was forced to intervene here using the last of his chakra on a shadow possession. Lacking the remaining strength to move Hidan out of the circle, Shikamaru relieved the Jashinist of his spear and scythe before losing control of the technique. Hidan seemingly had the last laugh as he revealed a second retractable spear he had hidden in his cloak and proceeded to impale himself through the knee and the shoulder joint, hoping to inflict crippling pain to Naruto. The blond was simply too pissed off to care at the moment, fighting through the pain to deal a punch to the gut and a massive headbutt that knocked both fighters for a loop. Naruto recovered quicker, relieving the Akatsuki foe of his weapon before stumbling away and deciding to use his head for once in the fight. Attacking with his flames, which would harm Hidan, but not himself due his fire immunity. The Jashinist didn't seem to care, content to let Naruto blast away until he ran out of gas.

"HAAAAAAA!" roared Naruto as he fired blast after blast after blast of fire, never letting up. Somehow Hidan stood in the midst of the inferno laughing up a storm as his body burned.

"That's the spirit asshole! Never say die!" mocked Hidan.

Naruto leaped up high into the air, raising his arms up above his head as he created one massive ball of scorching hot fire.

"JUST FUCKING DIE!" roared Naruto as he unleashed the blast at Hidan, triggering a massive explosion.

"Holy shit..." muttered Shikamaru as he felt the raging heat from the explosion. The shock wave from the attack nearly knocked the exhausted ninja back onto his ass.

"Let's see you survive that." declared a smirking Naruto. The smirk was quickly wiped off his face as the smoke and debris from the explosion cleared to reveal Hidan, separated into several pieces, but still very much alive.

"Is that the best you can do?" gloated a smirking Hidan. The black threads of Kakuzu's mask made themselves known again as they were already at work stitching the jashinist back together.

Naruto trembled with anger, "What is this mockery!"

"I'm going to rip you into so many peaces, not even that shitty mask will be able to put you back together!" roared Naruto as he charged Hidan in a blaze of fury.

"What is he doing? He fighting too sloppy again..." muttered Shikamaru. "Dammit, I need more chakra! If I could bind him again until Naruto calmed down, we could figure something out."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Asuma appeared behind Kakashi, slicing away the black threads attempting to ensnare the copy nin from behind. The two had gotten pretty roughed up in a short period of time. The threads of Kakuzu just seemed to be endless, try to grab and stab them from all directions.

"You did hit a vital spot before, didn't you?" asked the dark haired jonin.

Kakashi shook his head, "No. At first I thought I did, but then his internal organs shifted. I hit nothing more than black threads."

"Great, they're two of a kind. Should have known." muttered Asuma

Kakashi frowned as he dodged a bundle of the threads trying to stab him, "He's not sitting back and tacking damage like his partner though. He has vitals, it's just a matter of hitting them amongst these damn threads. It doesn't help that any ranged attack he use seems to just absorb right into his body with no effect."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Deep within Amekagure an orange haired figure in Akatsuki robes sat outside a tall structure towering over the rest of the village.

"The preparations are complete." announced Itachi as he appeared next to the man.

"Very, well. I'll gather everyone up." he replied.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

_'Hidan, Kakuzu, report back to base immediately.'_

"Hold on a minute, we're in the middle of something right now." responded Hidan.

_'We're ready to seal the three-tails. Since we're sealing out of order, this takes precedence over whatever you're doing.'_

"But, we've got-" Kakuzu cut him off.

"We've already seen what they've got to offer, Hidan. The time between now and when we come back won't make much of difference."

"Ah, fuck it! Fine let's go." groaned Hidan as he retrieved his scythe.

"We'll be back soon to finish this. Prepare yourselves." declared Kakuzu.

"Running and hiding like the cowards you are! I won't let you!" growled Naruto.

"We have more important matters to attend than you." responded Kakuzu.

"Sayonara motherfuckers!" shouted Hidan as the two vanished from sight. The moment they vanished, the long awaited back-up arrived on the scene. Chouji moved to the aid of his exhausted friend and gave him a food pill, while Ino started to mend the injuries sustained by Asuma and Kakashi.

"Son of a bitch..." grunted Naruto as he stumbled back over to Shikamaru and the others where he collapsed to his knees and coughed up some blood. "I can't believe this shit!"

The blond collapsed onto his back, wheezing heavily. Without the surge of rage and adrenaline from battle flooding his system, his previous injuries started catching up to him as his healing factor was all that had previously been holding him together. Ino quickly finished her work on Asuma's leg before shifting her attention over to Naruto.

Ino shook her head as she started diagnosing Naruto's injuries, "What the hell happened to you guys?"

"It was like fighting a damn zombie..." wheezed Shikamaru. "The troublesome bastard just wouldn't die..."

Asuma let out a sigh as he lit up a cigarette, "I know these guys are strong, but it's not like they were that strong. Those moves would have taking out some of the strongest opponents I can think of. What we just faced wasn't strength or skill, it was just pure insanity."

"How do you kill someone who can't be killed?" pondered Kakashi. "We better come up with something quick."

* * *

A/N: Oh no! They lost to the Zombie bros! I figured it would be more realistic, for the first round of this fight to go to Hidan and Kakuzu. The 'WTF! Why won't this guy die!' factor from facing these guys for the first time makes is pretty big. Especially with Hidan, but now that they've got some time to figure a few things out, the tables will turn.


End file.
